Sharon Larsson
CISO
Svenska Spel
Since 2022 Sharon Larsson has been the CISO at Svenska Spel, the Swedish state-owned gambling company, which is also strongly involved in Sweden’s sports movement. She is originally from a remote part of the south-west of Ireland, and after gaining a BSc in Computer Science in Dublin as well as working there for a couple of years, she moved to Sweden in 2006.
She joined Ericsson and travelled the world for 10 years on various projects before starting a family and settling down fully in Stockholm. When she is not defending the company from information and cyber security threats, you’ll either find her in the garden or in the music studio playing heavy metal.
Learn more about the Nordic CISO community here.
Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
I have been working within IT and operations organisations for 20 years with a broad range of roles from technical to leadership and strategic positions. My background has spanned from driving change in large global companies to getting small start-ups off the ground and has covered public institutions to private corporations and businesses. Information security has been a primary focus for several years. Prior to Svenska Spel, I had a joint CIO/CISO role, so I jumped on the opportunity to deep dive directly into the security world.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
They are communication and a people-centric approach. I’m very much a people person, and I enjoy working together on a project or initiative. So, it’s important to me to bring people on board early and make them feel part of the change. When it comes to security, not everyone in an organisation is comfortable around the topic, so communication at the right level is crucial.
What is the greatest challenge CISOs face today, and how are you addressing it?
Finding the right way to communicate our security stance to both management as well as all employees, so they can better understand their role and how they impact security. No one enjoys metrics or KPIs; however, they are important for us to understand where we are and where we want to go. So the current challenge is translating those metrics into an engaging story to drive change.
What is the key to success for someone just starting out as a CISO?
Start by figuring out the lay of the land – what is the business you’re in; what are the main threats; what is the current security stance of the company; who are the key people who can support you with change? Then, build a strategy from there. Don’t feel you need to know everything from day one. Every business and situation is different so there will always be a lot to learn, and give yourself the necessary time for that.
How do you measure success as a leader?
Success has a different definition for everyone; however, I feel I have successfully achieved something if I can improve a situation or overcome a challenge without negatively impacting some other critical processes along the way. Success should have a broad rather than narrow scope.
What is the value of being a member of the Evanta community?
It’s a fantastic way of keeping on the cutting edge of security – both in terms of the topics, as well as networking with experts in their fields. The content and format of the community is very engaging, and it’s incredibly interesting to hear about emerging technologies and their associated risks and opportunities!
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