Understanding the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Role in 2023

Cisco defines the chief information security officer role as a senior-level executive who oversees the information, cyber and technology security at an organization. Many midsize companies or larger enterprises have a CISO alongside other C-suite executives like the chief executive officer (CEO), chief financial officer (CFO) and chief information officer (CIO). 

Smaller businesses are not likely to hire someone specifically for chief information security officer jobs, but may have a staff member, such as a director of cyber security, who handles the CISO responsibilities. Smaller businesses and startup organizations will sometimes outsource the CISO role as a cost-efficiency measure.

The CISO role generally involves developing and driving a cyber security strategy and framework that is intended to secure an organization’s technology assets, such as applications and systems, while enabling and advancing business outcomes. You might ask then, what the difference is between a CISO and a CIO? The CIO is another position that is highly regarded by many in the corporate world. CIO’s set the vision for the company’s overall IT strategy and oversees major IT initiatives. The CISO, on the other hand, maintains a singular focus on security and leads the company’s information security program. 

In a traditional corporate structure, the CISO position reports to the CIO. However, more Fortune 500 companies have made the CISO co-equal with the CIO in recent years.

Cisco outlines the responsibilities of the chief information security officer in the following way:

Industry leaders are talking about how the CISOs responsibilities are shifting in 2023. According to Daniel Kwong and Alain Sanchez, CISOs of the cyber security company Fortinet, the CISO’s role is no longer limited to protecting their organization from cyberattacks. 

The CISO, once regarded simply as the IT department’s security manager, is now a key business enabler, risk controller and change agent tasked with delivering business value. In a recent article, they described several ways in which the CISOs responsibilities are changing in response to the new realities and demands of an evolving cyber security environment. Among them:

If you work as a data security administrator, information security specialist, computer security specialist or other position in information systems security, it’s likely that you or others in your department would report to the CISO. The level of interaction you have with the CISO can vary depending upon the size of your organization and its data operations, but your duties would likely consist of a number of tasks to keep sensitive data out of the hands of cybercriminals while enhancing security protections, including:

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