The Top Stories from Around the Web: December
For most people December is generally a quiet month and an opportunity to catch up on their backlog of tasks, but not for CISO and not for cyber news. The top stories we found this month include a predictions for what CISO can expect next year, more articles being published about board rooms and cybersecurity, and a few articles on strategies for CISOs to adopt to manage modern challenges.
Here are the stories we think you need to read:
1. CISOs in 2025: Evolution of a High-Profile Role
Source: InformationWeek
The CISO role is rapidly evolving, reflecting the increasing significance of cybersecurity in business strategy. By 2025, CISOs are expected to engage more deeply with legal, finance, and operations teams, emphasizing strategic leadership, risk management, and compliance. However, rising compliance challenges, job security concerns, and regulatory scrutiny are reshaping the position. High-profile legal cases, like the SEC’s action against SolarWinds’ CISO, have highlighted personal accountability, prompting calls for indemnification clauses and shared responsibility frameworks.
CISOs are gaining boardroom influence, often reporting directly to CEOs or boards, underscoring their role as strategic advisors. Yet, high attrition rates and shorter tenures persist, driven by the role's demands. Salaries are rising, but organizations must prioritize development pipelines and succession plans. Stronger collaboration with legal and operational leaders, coupled with investments in cybersecurity and organizational support, will be critical to sustaining effective security leadership.
2. The New Boardroom Mandate: Data Security As A Strategic Priority
Source: Forbes
Data security has become a top priority for boardrooms worldwide, evolving from an IT issue to a core business concern. High-profile breaches and regulatory shifts have highlighted the critical need for robust cybersecurity measures to protect reputation and ensure operational resilience. The CISO’s role has expanded, bridging security and business strategies while addressing complex challenges like regulatory compliance, AI-driven threats, and hybrid cloud environments.
CISOs are now integral to the boardroom, emphasizing proactive security measures, modernizing tools, and embedding security into company culture. Best practices include conducting data inventories, addressing technical debt, investing in automation, fostering security awareness, and aligning security with business goals.
Future-proofing involves treating data as a strategic asset, ensuring continuous compliance, and preparing for potential breaches. Organizations prioritizing security as a business enabler can enhance resilience, foster innovation, and gain a competitive edge in the evolving digital landscape.
3. Visibility and speed: The keys to defeating modern cyber threats
Source: ETCISO
Modern cyber threats demand speed and visibility, as attacks increasingly exploit endpoints, identities, and cloud environments. The average eCrime breakout time is now just 62 minutes, with some attackers acting within two minutes, leveraging malware-free tactics to blend into legitimate operations. Cross-domain attacks pose significant challenges by exploiting fragmented security postures and evading detection through compromised credentials and legitimate tools.
Traditional security solutions, often siloed, lack the unified visibility required to counter these sophisticated threats. Unified security platforms address these gaps by integrating data, threat intelligence, and workflows, enabling real-time detection and rapid response. Benefits include reduced costs, streamlined operations, and faster mitigation of lateral movements.
Effective unified platforms offer comprehensive threat management, automated responses, and a single-sensor design for deployment efficiency. They also support 24/7 managed threat hunting for enhanced security and favorable insurance coverage. Unified security is essential to counter modern threats and ensure future resilience.
4. Five Strategies CISOs Can Employ To Secure Cloud Services
Source: Forbes
To secure cloud services effectively, CISOs must adapt to unique challenges posed by the shared responsibility model, which divides security duties between providers and customers. Unlike traditional security, protecting cloud environments requires robust strategies for managing access and data. Here are five key approaches:
Privileged Access: Implement "zero standing privilege" to ensure no one retains permanent administrative access. Grant privileges dynamically and revoke them immediately after use.
Consistent Policies: Use centralized solutions to uniformly enforce access policies across diverse cloud providers, focusing on data protection and access context.
Access Configuration and Visibility: Adopt dynamic, just-in-time access controls to streamline configuration management and enhance visibility.
Compliance Reporting: Rely on actual access logs, rather than indirect evidence, for compliance verification, facilitated by centralized policy engines.
API Access: Secure API-driven services by ensuring API calls align with user policies and access permissions.
These strategies, supported by modern identity management tools, enable organizations to strengthen their cloud security while integrating seamlessly with existing systems.
5. CISOs should stop freaking out about attackers getting a boost from LLMs
Source: CSO
Generative AI, particularly large language models (LLMs), has raised concerns about enhancing cybercriminal capabilities, but evidence suggests attackers haven’t gained a decisive edge. While LLMs can improve routine tasks like phishing or malware adaptation, they introduce diminishing returns and unpredictability, making them less suitable for sophisticated attacks. Here's why:
Limited Creativity: LLMs excel at automation but struggle with creative or inferential tasks critical to advanced cyber intrusions.
Increased Uncertainty: Heavy reliance on AI for foundational tasks removes human oversight, increasing risks and unpredictability during engagements.
Focus on Traditional Techniques: The uncertainty tied to AI-driven operations motivates attackers to rely on proven methods for exploitation and intrusion.
For CISOs, the alarmist rhetoric around generative AI overlooks its nuanced impact. Instead, AI represents an evolution, not a revolution, in both offensive and defensive cybersecurity. The real challenge lies in balancing innovation with real-world conditions, focusing on practical security measures rather than speculative fears.
