Key Roles And Responsibilities Of A Chief Information Security Officer?
Today’s shared operating setting is much more diverse than it was in decades. The maturation of the online capabilities of the criminals is the most outstanding difference. Cyber criminals have progressed their capability to perform network surveillance, launch DDoS attacks and advance phishing & spear phishing attacks. The protection of data and resources of an organization becomes a vital problem for a broad range of individuals. In order to cope with the progress in computing resources and criminal’s capabilities, every organization position a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in place to analyze, formulate as well as mitigate information security risks.
CISO, an executive level manager of the organization involves in directing strategy, operations as well as the budget for the prevention of the organization information assets and handle that program. The Scope of CISO responsibility will cover communication, application & infrastructure, comprising the policies as well as procedures which apply.
The different organization can represent the position in different designations for the similar or same duties:
Corporate Security Executive.
Information System Security Manager.
Chief Information Technology Officer.
Information Security Director.
The four key functions that encompass the responsibility of the CISO of the organization are illustrated below:
The Day To Day Activity Of The CISO:
Building and executing a strategy for the information security technology deployment.
Performing security risk assessments.
Reporting the risks to reduce the threats.
Monitoring hacking threats and vulnerabilities in the host and network systems.
Tracking the modern information security innovations and being up-to-date of current cyber security technologies.
Guaranteeing business continuity Communicating with organizational stakeholders about the security threats.
Building an effective approach for the security incidents reporting.
Supervising the investigation of determined security breaches.
Handling the information security team, security advisors, and experts.
Building approaches to manage security incidents as well as trigger investigations.
Confirming with the recent regulations & compliance requirements.
Defending & educating the management about the recent security technologies and strategies
Common Duties And Responsibilities Of CISO:
The followings are the list of common responsibilities of the CISO, but not limited to it:
Direct & approve the security systems’ design.
Guarantee that incident recovery, as well as business continuity plans, are implemented and tested.
Review as well as approve security controls, policies, and incident response plan.
Approve identity & access policies.
Guarantee compliance with the altering laws as well as applicable regulations.
Use that knowledge to determination of risks as well as actionable plans to safeguard the business.
Schedule regular security audits.
Supervise identity & access management.
Ensure that IT security policies & procedures are transferred to the entire personnel of the organization and that obedience is enforced.
Recruit and manage entire employees, teams, vendors, and contractors involved in the cyber security.
Offer training and guidance to the IT security team members.
Constantly update the strategy of the cyber security to influence new technology & threat details.
Brief the executive members on risks and status, comprising taking the in charge for necessary budget and overall strategy.
Communication risks and best practices to entire parts of the management and outside IT
Key Skills Does A CISO Necessitate:
For handling the responsibilities that have listed above, the organization looks for the candidates with some fundamental skills. These includes:
CISO should have the ability to empower and lead an IT security team to satisfy IT and business security goals.
Should be capable of monitoring performance, providing directions, building a positive work environment and motivating & educating staff.
Should possess the talent to adapt to a rapidly moving IT landscape and approach with recent technologies and innovative thinking.
Should have a passion for the security safeguarding technologies.
Should flourish on change, proving an impressive talent to route the security strategy forward.
Should be good in analytical skills to manage numerous sources and offering data analysis reports to management.
Should have strong customer focus to satisfy the demands of external customers and internal customers.
Should be encompassed with excellent communication skills for providing written and verbal communication, which is vital to senior management and stakeholders.
Should have flexible and adaptable skills in order to meet the new demands.
Should be efficient to make timely and well-informed decisions.
Should have creative thinking to find the new ways of problem-solving.
Should be a multi-tasking person to succeed several concurrent projects in a better way of prioritizing the demands
