Security from CISOs Perspective

CISO …as a facet of “C-Suite”

CICOs are the senior executives who are responsible for developing and implementing an information security posture that protects an organization’s data and systems. CISOs are responsible for managing risk and ensuring that the organization’s security posture is aligned with its business objectives. The role acts as a bridge that joins security,  technologies, processes, and business with risk management. 

What is security for an organization mean?

Security does not only mean the security of the application or the infrastructure. It encompasses other aspects like  Hardware and software security, Network security, Human resource security, policies related to information security, security assurance, breach response, and corresponding internal and external audits.

Security from CISO’s binoculars

CISO shoulders the responsibility of managing the overall security of an organization’s information systems. This encompasses:

• Developing and implementing security policies and procedures.
• Security staff management.
• Understanding network activity and preparing counter plans for potential threats
• Overseeing incident response and disaster recovery planning
• Coordinating the response and recovery efforts when a data or security breach occurs
• Getting internal and external audits done to gauge the sturdiness of the security posture and plan

Shift Left …CISOs  perspective

With DevOps, the project life cycle has started observing the Shift-Left paradigm. This enables CISOs and their teams to mitigate security risks for both the business and end users. This helps tackle security issues in the early stages and plan accordingly. Most of the CISOs express that they are focusing on Shift Left Security. This not only pays in terms of cost-benefit but also creates business value, and reduces technology risk, operational risk, cyber risk, and enhances resilience.

Conclusion

CISOs are the top executives responsible for defining and ensuring security posture in the organization. There are various aspects of security that are needed to be addressed. With DevOps and DevSecOps organizations are observing a left-shift paradigm in which security is taken care of right from the beginning to the completion of the project. The CISOs admit that this shift not only shows cost efficiency but also minimizes various associated risks.