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Gartner for Cybersecurity Leaders
Gartner for CISOs helps you reframe your role, align your security strategy to business objectives and build programs that balance protection with the needs of the organisation.
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Protect Your Organisation From Disinformation Campaigns
Prevent, detect and respond to disinformation campaigns with disinformation security techniques and technologies.
Implement Zero-Trust Architecture to Adapt to a Shifting Threat Landscape
Cybersecurity often fails to deliver on zero-trust initiatives due to miscommunications with the team supporting this approach to defending the business. Get guidance on communicating the benefits of zero-trust architecture to key stakeholders.
Focus Cybersecurity on Business Outcomes
Cybersecurity is a business priority, not a set of technology tactics, so every cybersecurity leader must (re)frame cybersecurity strategy as a value driver, not a cost line. But are your team’s capabilities mature enough? Use the Gartner IT Score for Security & Risk Management to spot what to prioritise and where and how to improve.
Build a Resilient Cybersecurity Roadmap
By 2027, 75% of employees will acquire, modify or create technology outside IT’s visibility — up from 41% in 2022. Many organisations struggle to balance cybersecurity with the everyday need to run the business. CISOs can help by developing a cybersecurity roadmap with processes that enable risk-based decisions while also protecting against security threats.
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Security leaders: Explore your must-attend conference
Join CISOs and security executives to learn how to navigate emerging trends and challenges. From peer-led sessions to analyst one-on-ones, you'll leave ready to tackle your mission-critical priorities.
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Security and risk questions Gartner can help answer
What are the major trends and challenges affecting CISOs?
Much like their CIO counterparts, information security experts operating as chief information security officers (CISOs) will need to evolve with their roles as the C-suite digitally upskills.
Trends
Delegating tactical or “hands-on” cybersecurity work or risk mitigation to staff or other business leaders to focus on strategic oversight and implementation of information risk security planning.
As the digital dexterity of the CISO’s and CIO’s C-suite counterparts increases, cybersecurity experts are evolving to orchestrate more strategic distributed digital initiatives.
Challenges
Information risk and security leadership becoming a distributed C-suite responsibility, not just those of IT management. This has led to senior leaders outside of IT increasingly hiring their own technology talent and actively shaping digital strategy, to test and scale digital business ideas.
Management of digital foundations, including cross-cutting platforms, integration and talent coordination. As decision making becomes more distributed, CISOs and CIOs will have to focus on architecting and managing cross-cutting platforms (e.g., development environments, customer experience, analytics and integration capabilities) and foster common ways of working across distributed fusion teams.
What are the factors differentiating the most effective CISOs?
As with many key business functions, effective cybersecurity professionals need to hold strong relationships with non-IT stakeholders. The influence of the chief information security officer needs to be understood, respected and adhered to, so cultivating rapport with management and executives who are responsible for decision making and implementing security risk strategies is vital.
While experience in their current role, experience in their current industry and high industry regulations are keys to successful CISO output, the effectiveness of an organisation’s CISO can be determined by their ability to execute against a set of four outcomes:
Functional leadership. As the leader of the information security function, CISO leadership is imperative in meeting security objectives.
Information security service delivery. With virtually every business capability today enabled by technology, CISOs must not only protect their organisation, but also help it meet its objectives through delivery of quality services that support business objectives.
Scaled governance. Distributed decision making has expanded the volume and variety of information risk decisions that cyber risk experts need to support, so a successful CISO will need to be able to scale governance to meet the demand and increase cooperation with information security recommendations.
Enterprise responsiveness. In addition to ensuring governance, CISOs must cultivate an environment where decision makers understand and care about information security and consider security implications in their decision making. They must champion the importance of information risk and cybersecurity effectively.
How do leading CISOs deliver the highest value?
Security leaders, including the CIO and CISO, need to lead their organisations through digital transformation, but importantly, also need to deliver value throughout that process. Keys to delivering value to the business include:
Identifying and defining the organisation’s appetite for risk through collaboration with business leaders/executives/non-IT decision makers
Continually driving business discussions on the evolving digital landscape to stay ahead of potential threats
Ensuring business decision makers are aware of current and potential future security risks to the organization
Proactively engaging in sourcing, implementing and scaling emerging technologies
Designing and implementing a strategic succession plan
Delegating tactical activities to staff or other stakeholders to reallocate their own time toward strategic planning
Gartner delivers actionable, objective insight to CISOs and their teams to drive faster, smarter decisions and achieve their mission-critical priorities.
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