Emerging Stronger from Disrupted Times

The COVID-19 crisis has provided quite the challenge to CISOs across the globe. In the Toronto region, CISOs have taken it as an opportunity to grow as leaders. They are asking themselves how they can best support their organizations, and the answer is by changing and evolving themselves and the work they do for the people they support.

In this community town hall, participants explored how CISOs are positioning themselves as strategic drivers and influential leaders during disruption. To set the stage, Toronto CISOs responded to a survey prior to the town hall indicating the following:

20% are continuing standard business operations at a reduced level

34%  expect to return to standard business operations in the next 6-12 months

29% report a significant  impact on their organization’s revenue

25% predict a significant impact on their organization’s budget

This conversation was moderated by Jason Hall, VP of enterprise security at Scotiabank. Jason was joined by Scott Currie, CISO at SickKids, and Traci Van Geel, global director of security, risk and compliance at Compass Group. During the conversation, they shared how they have been leading their organizations during the pandemic.
 

Aligning Security With the Business 

While business disruption can be painful, overall COVID-19 has been a win for many security leaders. During this time of change, CISOs have been brought to the forefront of leadership conversations and have been able to provide value to the business by bringing in new resources and technology that allow the organization to run smoothly. Executive leadership and the board of directors are now coming to CISOs and asking them to sit at the table and share their perspectives. 

One area of security that leadership is more interested in than ever is risk management. With business models, products, and services constantly changing because of COVID-19, organizations are looking at their risk appetite and posture more holistically. This shift is allowing CISOs to jump in at the beginning of the process, act as risk advisors to team members as they are designing new business models and provide guidance from start to finish. 
 

Metrics that Matter 

Providing data that allows the business to make the best decisions is a vitally important part of a security leader’s job. CISOs are doubling down on data-driven analytics during disruption to make sure they are providing the right insights and strong analysis to support decision making. These insights ensure they are investing their time and effort into mitigating the most pressing risks. 

It is critical for CISOs to become a trusted adviser to the leadership team. The goal of CISOs should be to support the requirements of the business and build trust across the organization. CISOs can foster that trust by communicating clearly with the business and sharing metrics that are easy to understand. It is up to the CISO to take the petabytes of data they have access to and distill it down to tell a story that the business can consume and build upon. 

Now more than ever, CISOs need to turn their data points into strong business cases.

Staying Engaged Amid Disruption

It has been over 12 weeks since many businesses in the Toronto area moved to remote work. In those three months, communication has become critically important. CISOs stay engaged with their teams via video calls and daily stand ups. Additionally, leaders have started to speak to their teams about mental health. It is up to the CISO to connect with their direct reports and make sure that they are supporting their individual needs and that they are taking care of themselves and others, regardless of physical distance. 

Celebrating personal and organizational resilience is another important part of sustaining engagement during the COVID-19 crisis. It is up to leaders to shout out moments of resiliency across the business and show when people are helping the organization and, most importantly, each other. 

by CISOs, for CISOs

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