Do CISOs Have More Stress than Other C-Suite Jobs?

This week’s episode is co-hosted by me,? David Spark , producer of? CISO Series , and? Geoff Belknap , CISO,? LinkedIn . We welcome our guest Jared Mendenhall , head of information security, Impossible Foods .

We brought up a lot of issues on CISO and cybersecurity leader stress. Please give us your thoughts:

The CISO role is not well grounded, and that adds to the stress. A CISO is not truly an officer of the company and the position has different archetypes compared to other CxO roles. Plus, there’s no consensus as to who the CISO must report to. “You’re trying to justify why you’re there and why you’re part of an organization,” noted Jared Mendenhall.

Are CISOs suffering a Rodney Dangerfield “I get no respect” complex? David Weissbohn of Governors State University doesn’t think the job is more stressful than other C-level jobs, “but it IS somewhat less respected, often underfunded and misunderstood.” And Bruno Guerreiro Diniz of Datasec added, “Most CISOs are actually infosec managers without real C-level experience.” To which Geoff Belknap responded, “I see some of my peers fall into this trap of I don’t have the authority to fix this and/or I am often looked upon with disdain as the person who just tells the executive team about problems.”

Expectations of what a CISO can accomplish are not aligned with business structure. "The expectations that most organizations have of the role are incompatible with how internal incentives and political capital are aligned. CISO is not a savior," said Fernando Montenegro of Omdia . Both Geoff and Jared disagreed. But that may be because both of their organizations are very forthright about their security, integrity, and privacy policies – utilizing all as a core part of their corporate brand.

Stress isn’t exclusive to CISOs but their lack of business maturity may seem like they’ve got more. “Watching CISOs report to the board had been like watching adolescents struggling to become adults in a new land,” said Martin Whitworth of S&P Global Ratings echoing what a board member once told him. But stress is part of the role said Anahi Santiago , CISO of ChristianaCare , “Many of us thrive in it.”

You can listen to this week’s episode here or over on our blog where you can read the full transcript. If you aren’t already subscribed to Defense in Depth on your favorite podcast app, please go ahead and do that right now.

Thanks to our contributors (witting and unwitting - many on Twitter): @smbciso, @jackscerebellum, @_mbanana, @Bob_Kelso_MD, and @IR_Bryan77.

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Cyber Security Headlines - Week in Review

Make sure you?register on YouTube?to join the LIVE "Week In Review" this Friday for?Cyber?Security?Headlines?with?CISO Series?reporter? Sean Kelly . We do it this and every Friday at 3:30 PM ET/12:30 PM PT?for a short 20-minute discussion of the week's cyber news. Our guest will be? Bryan Willett , CISO, 利盟 .

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"Hacking Automated Security" - Super Cyber Friday

Join us Friday, January 20, 2023, for?“Hacking Automated Security: An hour of critical thinking of how intelligent automation can achieve more without doing more.”

It all begins at 1 PM ET/10 AM PT on Friday, January 20, 2023 with guests? Brian Vecci , field CTO, Varonis and? Ken Collins , sr. director, information security, Sunbelt Rentals, Inc. ?We'll have fun conversation and games, plus at the end of the hour (2 PM ET/11 AM PT) we'll do our meetup.

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Jump in on these conversations?

"What does the future of Cybersecurity look like with the rise of AI? (ChatGPT)"?(More here)

"Your problem with not integrating data protection and information security in one system (or why CISO and DPOs have to talk)?" (More here)

"Belonging to a Security Hive is so critical to success" (More here)

Coming up in the weeks ahead on Super Cyber Friday we have:

• [01-06-23] No show
• [01-13-23] No show
• [01-20-23] Hacking Automated Security
• [02-03-23] Hacking People and Process
• [02-10-23] Hacking Your Security Program?

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