Delineates information needed and includes from-the-trenches advice on how to have a successful career in the field of CISO leadership.
Written by experienced computer security professionals and including interviews with successful CISOs, this book describes the management skills needed by aspiring senior security executives. It provides tools for identifying one's strengths and weaknesses and honing one's leadership style, delineates what companies look for when hiring a security professional, and covers practical steps for evaluating an organization's culture in order to successfully implement a security program that will fit the culture. A unique reference for IT professionals, CISOs, CIOs, and CSOs, the book includes real-world examples of how to treat the security program as a business.
"Contemporary information security is a relatively new specialty that continues to evolve. Even newer is the job title "chief information security officer." As a result, those who don the CISO mantle do so without an established playbook.
In CISO Leadership: Essential Principles for Success, a number of experienced and highly successful information security practitioners share their collective experiencesâ?"including mistakes. They provide valuable advice for those aspiring to become information security leaders.
A common theme throughout the book's 19 chapters is the idea that information security is about more than simply amassing technical knowledge. Rather, it is the combined set of skills that include leadership, team building, communication, risk assessment, and corporate business savvy. Lack of these skills has often resulted in a CISO's premature termination.
The book is divided into three sections all centered on the issue of leadership. Part I is titled "A Leadership Disconnect," while Part II "Leadership Mandate" features chapters on fundamental topics, such as career advancement, security as a business function, business drivers, and more. Part III, "Leadership Evolution," covers business savvy, organizational culture, selling security, and more.
For those with a forward career path in information security, CISO Leadership is a valuable guidebook. The authors' "war stories" can help you avoid the bumps as you go down that road. The breadth and depth of the experience of the authors makes this a unique book that you can use to further your information security career."
-Ben Rothke, Security Management
