• About
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
Thursday, May 8, 2025
    Login
  • Management Leadership
    • Growth Strategies
    • Finance
    • Operations
    • Sales and Marketing
    • Careers
  • Technology
    • Infrastructure and Platforms
    • Business Applications and Databases
    • Big Data, Analytics and Intelligence
    • Security
  • Industry Verticals
    • Finance and Insurance
    • Manufacturing
    • Logistics and Transportation
    • Retail and Wholesale
    • Hospitality and Tourism
    • Government and Public Services
    • Utilities
    • Media and Telecommunications
  • Resources
    • Whitepapers
    • PodChats
    • Videos
  • Events
No Result
View All Result
  • Management Leadership
    • Growth Strategies
    • Finance
    • Operations
    • Sales and Marketing
    • Careers
  • Technology
    • Infrastructure and Platforms
    • Business Applications and Databases
    • Big Data, Analytics and Intelligence
    • Security
  • Industry Verticals
    • Finance and Insurance
    • Manufacturing
    • Logistics and Transportation
    • Retail and Wholesale
    • Hospitality and Tourism
    • Government and Public Services
    • Utilities
    • Media and Telecommunications
  • Resources
    • Whitepapers
    • PodChats
    • Videos
  • Events
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
Home Technology Security

Gartner reveals five behaviours of effective CISOs

FutureCIO Editors by FutureCIO Editors
August 31, 2023
Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

A Gartner survey of chief information security officers (CISOs) revealed that 69% of top-performing CISOs dedicate recurring time on their calendars for personal and professional development. Only 36% of bottom-performing CISOs do so.

"As the CISO role continues to rapidly evolve, it becomes even more critical for security and risk leaders to protect time for professional development," said Chiara Girardi, senior principal of research at Gartner. "Developing new skills and knowledge as the role changes is essential to effectively serve as a strategic advisor to the business – the new CISO paradigm."

The data was collected from 2020 through 2023 as part of a Gartner benchmarking survey of 227 CISOs. Respondents were measured on key areas of CISO effectiveness, with those scoring in the top one-third ranked as "top performers."

Five key behaviours

The research identified five key behaviours that significantly differentiate top-performing CISOs from bottom-performers. On average, each of these behaviours is at least 1.5 times as prevalent in top performers than in bottom performers (see Figure 1).

Fig. 1: Effective CISOs’ top five game-changing behaviours

Source: Gartner (August 2023)

For example, the survey found that 77% of top-performing CISOs initiate conversations in the enterprise on evolving national and international security norms, such as hacking back and threat attribution. This is compared with just half of the bottom performers who do so.

Girardi concedes that no organisation can be fully protected against every cyber threat.

Chiara Girardi

"The most effective CISOs stay apprised of existing and emerging risks so they can provide leadership with context around the most significant threats facing the business, to influence investments and risk decisions accordingly."

Chiara Girardi

Additionally, 63% of top-performing CISOs proactively engage in securing emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and blockchain, compared with just 38% of bottom-performing CISOs.

Girardi posits that as AI adoption proliferates, CISOs are already behind the curve in assessing its risk impact. "Threat actors are always one step ahead, so CISOs must be more proactive in understanding the security impact of technologies like generative AI and communicating those risks with senior business leadership," she continued.

Top-performing CISOs proactively engage with senior decision-makers across the business, such as by building relationships outside the context of projects (65%) and by collaborating to define enterprise risk appetite (67%).

Gartner says the most effective CISOs regularly meet with three times as many non-IT stakeholders compared to IT stakeholders, such as heads of sales, heads of marketing and business unit leaders.

Girardi believes that non-IT functions are key partners that can take technology and cybersecurity decisions outside of IT.

"By setting aside dedicated time to build relationships with senior business decision-makers across the enterprise, CISOs can cultivate an environment where decision-makers understand and care about cybersecurity, as well as consider cybersecurity implications in their decision making," she concluded.

Related:  Report shows a 70% increase in novel malware attacks
Tags: CISOGartnerSecurity and risk management
FutureCIO Editors

FutureCIO Editors

Strategic Insights for Chief Information Officers

FutureCIO is about enabling the CIO, his team, the leadership and the enterprise through shared expertise, know-how and experience - through a community of shared interests and goals. It is also about discovering unknown best practices that will help realize new business models.

Quick Links

  • Videos
  • Resources
  • Subscribe
  • Contact

Cxociety Media Brands

  • FutureIoT
  • FutureCFO
  • FutureCIO

Categories

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Cookie Policy

Copyright © 2022 Cxociety Pte Ltd | Designed by Pixl

Login to your account below

or

Not a member yet? Register here

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Management Leadership
    • Growth Strategies
    • Finance
    • Operations
    • Sales and Marketing
    • Careers
  • Technology
    • Infrastructure and Platforms
    • Business Applications and Databases
    • Big Data, Analytics and Intelligence
    • Security
  • Industry Verticals
    • Finance and Insurance
    • Manufacturing
    • Logistics and Transportation
    • Retail and Wholesale
    • Hospitality and Tourism
    • Government and Public Services
    • Utilities
    • Media and Telecommunications
  • Resources
    • Whitepapers
    • PodChats
    • Videos
  • Events
Login

Copyright © 2022 Cxociety Pte Ltd | Designed by Pixl

Subscribe