Reflections from the Year as a CISO: Defending, Enabling, and Growing the Business

As we conclude October’s Security Awareness Month, it’s an opportune time to reflect on the past year’s learnings and challenges in cybersecurity. It has been a dynamic period filled with both challenges and opportunities. This month has been dedicated to raising awareness about cybersecurity across our organization, but it’s also a chance to share key insights gained as we continue to protect, enable, and grow the business in an increasingly complex environment.

The role of cybersecurity has evolved significantly, and our priorities have shifted from merely defending the organization to enabling business growth and, increasingly, becoming a key component of strategic decisions. In this article, I’ll share my key takeaways from the year, focusing on three critical aspects: defending the business, enabling the business, and growing the business.

Defending the Business: A Constant Battle Against an Aggressive Threat Landscape

The rise of AI in cyberattacks has forced us to deploy advanced AI-driven defenses. Attackers use AI to craft personalized phishing emails or create realistic-sounding voices in vishing attacks, tricking even the most security-aware employees. To defend the business, we must remain agile. For instance, AI-generated attacks such as deepfake vishing have required us to introduce a more advanced set of controls, preferably in combination with dual validation threat detection and prevention technologies, including AI-powered solutions that can quickly identify and respond to suspicious activity. This year has shown us that keeping defenses current is not a “set it and forget it” approach; continuous updates, threat intelligence sharing, and real-time monitoring have become more important than ever.

Enabling the Business: Accelerating Technology Adoption Safely

The demand for rapid adoption of new technologies, particularly in areas such as Generative AI (GenAI), has been a prominent theme this year. While these technologies offer immense potential for innovation and operational efficiency, they also introduce new security challenges. Balancing the need for speed in adopting these technologies with the need for robust security controls has been a tightrope walk.

Security cannot be a roadblock in an organization that’s pushing the boundaries of innovation, especially with the increasing demand for technologies like Generative AI (GenAI). This year, we’ve had to work hand in hand with our technology and business teams to accelerate the adoption of these tools while ensuring robust security controls are in place.

GenAI offers incredible potential to transform operations, but it also introduces new risks. From data security to intellectual property protection, our policies have had to adapt quickly. We’ve established strict guidelines on how AI tools can be used, developed secure processes for managing AI-generated data, and implemented rigorous access controls to mitigate risks. One of the biggest lessons here is that security must be built into the adoption process—not retrofitted afterward.

This balancing act extends beyond GenAI to all new technology. As digital transformation speeds up, cybersecurity teams need to embed security into the development process. Our adoption of DevSecOps has been instrumental in ensuring that security is part of the early stages of software development. This approach not only enables faster, safer product releases but also ensures that security risks are addressed before they become major vulnerabilities.

Growing the Business: Aligning Cybersecurity with Business Goals

Perhaps the most encouraging shift we’ve seen this year is the increasing recognition of cybersecurity as a key business enabler by senior leadership and the board. This shift in mindset has opened new opportunities for cybersecurity teams to contribute directly to business growth.

However, this recognition also brings new challenges. While there is greater awareness of the importance of cybersecurity, we’re facing increased pressure to deliver more with tighter budgets. With rising costs for cybersecurity personnel, tools, compliance, and cyber insurance, budget optimization has become critical. One key lesson from this year is that automation and smart resource allocation are vital. By automating routine tasks such as monitoring, incident response, and vulnerability management, we’ve freed up valuable resources to focus on high-priority areas like proactive threat hunting and advanced incident management.

Security awareness itself has been another area of focus. While we’ve made progress in improving user security awareness across the organization, there are still areas where employees can be caught off guard—especially when faced with sophisticated phishing or vishing attacks. We’ve used this Security Awareness Month to emphasize the importance of vigilance, encouraging users to report suspicious activity, and reinforcing security best practices. The pitfall remains in assuming that training once a year is enough; consistent, engaging awareness programs are key to keeping security top of mind for employees.

Key Learnings and Looking Ahead

Looking forward, we need to remain agile in defending the business, proactive in enabling safe technology adoption, and strategic in aligning our cybersecurity efforts with the organization’s broader growth goals. The increasing recognition of cybersecurity’s role at the highest levels of the business is a positive step, but we must continue demonstrating the value we bring in safeguarding the business, managing risk, and enabling innovation.