What CISOs are Talking About in Early 2023

CISOs and their teams across North America have spent the last 6 months connecting with one another to network, share and learn in both virtual and in-person gatherings. The Evanta CISO Community has gathered 66 times at Evanta programs since January across 19 Executive Summits, 21 Inner Circle Dinners, 25 Town Halls and one Reer Roundtable.

Each gathering was curated via direct conversations with top security leaders to ensure each engagement was highly relevant and valuable. Themes such as advancing the business value of security, protecting critical infrastructure against advanced attacks and navigating the explosion of generative AI were discussed in detail. 

Here’s a snapshot of a few of the highest rated sessions at CISO Executive Summits this spring:

Wade in Deep, Stay in Your Swim Lane, or Muddy the Waters? 

San Francisco CISO Executive Summit 
This interactive session came together with CISOs discussing strategies on how to appropriately handle sharing on topics beyond the traditional infosec realm. Agreeing that diverse perspectives are critically valuable, they left the session with tips to ensure that their non-expert opinions enhance discussion and group knowledge across the enterprise. 

A security leader at a local energy company had this to say about the session:

Another round of inspiring talks within the group. Love to have these open-ended discussions that open up more doors.”

 

Lessons Only A Breach Can Teach 

Dallas CISO Executive Summit
An esteemed panel of three CISOs from Neiman Marcus, CBRE and Sabre Corporation shared their candid experiences and lessons learned from breaches they’ve experienced. They engaged the audience with examples of how to learn from a breach, critical priorities when responding and recovering and how to communicate with the board and regulators quickly and confidently. 

A CISO in the healthcare industry had this feedback:

A great panel discussing an important topic. Many of the folks in the room obviously could relate; I know I could. Always good to hear others' experiences and to see how things could have been done differently in my own issue.”

New Era of Leadership — Why CISOs Need to Pivot

Boston CISO Executive Summit
As the role of the CISO continues to increase in importance and visibility, the opportunity to broaden and build strategic executive skills are critical to surviving and thriving. Author Keith Wyche and Julie Fitton, CISO at Analog Devices, shared the stage as they discussed how to sharpen executive presence to make a stronger impact. 

After the keynote, a Global CISO said:

Delightful dialogue challenging us to be better storytellers and have a better articulation of the business.”

Stopping Insider Risks From Turning Into Insider Threats

Denver CISO Executive Summit
Having a robust insider threat and risk management plan within an organization is paramount. Lucia Milica, Global Resident CISO at Proofpoint, moderated a boardroom that focused on early risk intervention, detection and the importance of collaborating across teams to address risk, with discussion leaders Chris Ard, CISO at Newmont Corporation, and Alex Wood, CISO at Uplight.  

Executives were engaged in this presentation, saying:

Excellent session! There were some great conversations!”

Unlocking Cyber Risk Quantification

Florida CISO Executive Summit
Risk quantification is not new, but its adoption within cybersecurity is, as organizations want to better communicate the value of cyber and improve decision making through more data-driven assessment. Eduardo Ortiz-Romeu, Head of Cybersecurity at Techtronic Industries North America, moderated a boardroom that focused on strategies for communicating risk and tactics for getting started on a cyber risk quantification program.

Here’s what participants had to say:

        Do this one again - it's a key skill!"

        Very relevant discussion."

Most Read Articles

In the first part of 2023, these are the articles CISOs across Evanta communities were reading:

1. 2023 CISO Leadership Perspectives. In this infographic, we sum up the results of our annual Leadership Perspective Survey, showing CISOs’ mission critical priorities for the year.
2. Top 3 Areas of Focus for CISOs in 2023. Early in the year, we cite key areas of focus for security leaders, based on conversations, feedback and survey results from Governing Body members of our CISO communities.
3. Rethinking Cyber Talent: Take a New Approach to Recruiting. Executives in our communities regularly contribute to our blog, and here, Governing Body member Steven Aiello of the Detroit CISO Community shares insights on a key topic for security leaders – recruiting skilled workers.

As our first half of 2023 programs end, Evanta CISO community members provided this feedback on their experiences:

This was my first CISO forum, and I found the content fascinating! Kicking off the day with a ‘tabletop exercise’ brought the concepts to life and was a great way to engage the audience. I learned a great deal, the conversations were open and authentic, and the venue was very well suited!”

– Toronto CISO Participant

The experience that this event provides is very smooth and provides access to peers in a day. It's lovely to have this experience, learn, listen and engage.”

– Southern California CISO Governing Body Member

Excellent event and relevant topic that is obviously impactful across various industries.  Peer-to-peer networking and perspectives were great.”

– Houston CISO Governing Body Member

Evanta CISO Community members are continuing to plan innovative agendas for Executive Summits starting in October, with more opportunities to connect virtually and in-person taking place over the summer. Please check out your community page and join a community to participate in upcoming programs.