Category: CSO Online

A recent ranking of the most cyber-secure companies reveals weaknesses in current third-party risk management practices. A Forbes article is making the rounds right now about America’s most cyber-secure companies, and I can already see the cybersecurity outrage machine up in arms. Full confession: I haven’t yet read the article, but I’m about to. I’m writing this…

Regulatory mandates for software security like those in the Biden Administration’s National Cybersecurity Strategy could cause more problems than they solve. Like “SBOMs will solve everything,” there is a regular cry to reform software liability, specifically in the case of products with insecurities and vulnerabilities. US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly’s comments this…

CISOs and potential CISOs worried about criminal risk won’t go to jail if they follow four simple steps. There seem to be two reactions to the verdict in the Sullivan case. One reaction, often from CISOs already stressed by being outside the room where it happens, is to decide that being a CISO isn’t worth the risk…

Roland Cloutier is stepping down as global CSO to become a strategic advisor to TikTok’s CEO. The clock is ticking on the CSO succession plan. The best time to do succession planning was last year.   But the next best time is right now. The news this morning that Roland Cloutier is stepping away from the TikTok…

By setting yourself up as the defender, the solver of problems, you cast your business colleagues as hapless victims or, worse, threats. This is not a useful construct for engagement. There’s this belief among a lot of security professionals that we are special, in that we are the defenders of our companies.  We like to…

“Shared responsibility” usually means that no one is responsible for minding the gap. Don’t fall in. As anyone who has worked on a cross-functional team with no clear owner knows, “shared” or “joint” responsibility often means that everyone assumes that someone else is taking care of the problem. Without clear effort to make sure that…

Security processes that treat the very users we protect as unwanted burdens and alienate them in the process are a path to failure. The next time you receive a phishing email, forward it to wherever your organization tells you to report phishing attempts.  What response would you appreciate? Maybe a brief thank you or follow-up…

If you’re not in the meeting where decisions are made, then you’re not part of the C-Suite—whatever your title may be. Look around the CISO community, and you’ll find signs of burnout everywhere.   Where CISOs aren’t just quitting, you’ll find increasing tension between them and their executives, sometimes resulting in surprising departures. Ply a friendly CISO with…

Software bills of material are having a moment, but the costs of an externally visible SBOM are likely to outweigh the benefits, says Andy Ellis. There’s a big movement afoot to move to an SBOM-oriented world.  If you’re new to this acronym, an SBOM is a “Software Bill of Materials.”  The idea is that any…

No one outside the IT department cares about your vulnerability metrics (or they shouldn’t, anyway). They care about efficacy. And traditional stats don’t show that. I had a lovely chat with one of my favorite CISOs the other day, helping them think through the security metrics that they report upwards.  Front and center, as I…