The state of the chief information security officer role

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The growing importance of cybersecurity has led to an expansion in security leadership roles. According to an IANS report, most fortune firm chief information security officers (CISOs) are VP-level or higher.

The report found that 74% of CISOs and global CISOs report to a CIO or CTO. The other 26% report to a business function such as a COO, CFO, chief risk officer or legal counsel.

According to the report, four in 10 CISOs spend five to 10% of their budget on outsourcing and one in five spend 11% to 20%. At the $1 billion revenue milestone, nearly all retail CISOs have hired a head of security operations (SecOps) and most have a head of governance, risk and compliance (GRC) role on their organizational roster.

Another 4% of CISOs indicated they have the SecOps leader role in their staff that is currently vacant with a critical need to fill. Nineteen percent of CISOs report looking for a head of SecOps in the immediate or near future.

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Taelor Sutherland is the Associate Editor at Security magazine. Sutherland covers news affecting enterprise security leaders, from industry events to physical & cybersecurity threats and mitigation tactics. She is also responsible for coordinating and publishing web exclusives, multimedia content, social media posts, and a number of eMagazine departments. Sutherland graduated in 2022 with a BA in English Literature from Agnes Scott College.

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