CISO ExecNet

Don't Forget The Carrot Cake and Fudge Along The Way I had the opportunity to drive from Columbus to Cleveland this week. I'll get at least 3 more opportunities to do that this year in our roundtable series. Along the 2-hour trek I saw a billboard that showed a bakery counter full of donuts and cup of coffee. It read something like "Take A Break". I was all over that idea! I stopped and perused the lobby bakery and ended up buying some carrot cake and fudge to take home to my wife. Ok, maybe I took a bite of the cake before I got home! Normally I would not have stopped. But, recently, I made a decision to slow down and enjoy the journey a bit more. Worry less about the destination. After nearly 20 years of traveling for CISOExecNet roundtables, I have decided the journey is as important as the destination. Behind the scenes at CISO ExecNet Andy Land and I travel for 6 weeks to moderate roundtables in our 26 chapter cities. It can become a grind of travel. Meeting with members and sponsors is the highlight of all this. And yet, it can make you road-weary after a few weeks, four times a year. This year there will be more stops. A hockey game with members and sponsors. Maybe a baseball game or 2. Perhaps see a museum. Visit a monument. And more places like Der Dutchman in Ohio to get baked goods. I hope all my colleagues and friends are doing something similar. Life can be a grind. My new plan, and hopefully yours too, is to enjoy the journey more often. Open my eyes to what is around me, along the way. What are you doing to enjoy the journey? Let me know.

In our current CISO ExecNet roundtable series we are developing a “cocktail” to manage the risk of perimeter-less environments. Craig Ramsay of Omada Identity suggested a funny name for a cybersecurity cocktail- “SOX on the Breach” ??. I love it. Thanks for sharing with our Detroit chapter members today.

Need a little help explaining a cybersecurity tool? Use a comparison point that everyone will recognize. I love how Brendan O'Connor, CEO of AppOmni, framed SaaS Security in our recent interview. With SaaS security, ?”you can't take your existing tools, and lift and shift. You had to have a completely new approach,” Brendan said. He used a great example: If you take a device from America to Europe, all you need is a voltage converter, and you expect that the device will still work. But what if you got to Europe, and found that there was no plug in the wall? That’s what is happening with SaaS security. It’s why AppOmni is built for SaaS “from the ground up,” Brendan said. These simple comparisons are so powerful, whether we're communicating with the board or an executive who doesn't work in cyber. They provide clarity and make cybersecurity relatable. This was a really interesting interview, and I'm thankful to Brendan for sharing his time. A few years ago, Andy Land and I sat with Brendan at RSA, and learned about the vision for the company. We thought it was brilliant then, and it has been incredible to watch all of AppOmni’s progress in the years since! I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch the interview to learn more about Brendan’s story, and why startups are the Olympics of work! AppOmni will be joining CISO ExecNet for a few upcoming roundtables. This company grew out of Brendan’s experience as a CISO, so we couldn’t be more excited for our members to meet the team! #ciso #cybersecurity #saas

Final week of CISO ExecNet roundtables on Controlling the Perimeter-less World with Zero Trust, SASE, .... If are in our Detroit, Columbus, Minneapolis, or Cleveland chapters, make sure to RSVP to the invitations you've received from Andy Land and me. If you missed your chapter roundtable, previously, you can join one of these four via Zoom. Email me or Andy for the Zoom links.

Learning a lot from our CISO ExecNet members in Nashville and Chicago chapters so far this week. On our way to Denver. Thanks to our host in Nashville Alisa Chestler, CIPP US, QTE at Baker Donelson Also thanks to our sponsors Cato Networks Portnox Skyhigh Security and Sicura There are solutions to the perimeter-less security challenge. Which solutions to perimeter-less do you think are HOT or NOT? Are there vendors on the rise and some not so much? Let us know.

You did a fantastic job listening to our members and sharing your best practices. CISO ExecNet appreciates the sponsorship from Omada

What a great week for our CISO ExecNet sponsors Cato Networks, Sicura, Skyhigh Security and Portnox Combined across 3 chapters: Nashville, Chicago, and Denver, we interacted with nearly 70 members CISOs. How many CISOs have you met with this year? Find out how you can be part of our engagement program. Contact me today.

Richard Trezza from Cato Networks explains #zerotrust to our CISO ExecNet NYC members as he shares the value of implementing Zero Trust through #SASE. Thanks Cato Networks

Thanks Jeff Blank at Portnox for helping our CISO ExecNet NYC members better understand Unified Access Management today. Appreciate your update.

Appreciate the guidance on Identify Governance provided by Craig Ramsay at Omada for our CISO ExecNet NYC members. See you again in Detroit next week.