Welcome to the fifth annual Security 500 Survey, Benchmark and Trends report, recognizing both our profession’s best security leaders and their outstanding organizations as well as identifying the biggest challenges and targets for where billions of dollars will be invested to manage enterprise risk and improve security.

Professional organizations provide a number of benefits to the occupational/professional groups that they serve. Associations help to pave the way for the profession to progress by offering seminars, publications, courses and industry updates. They set the standards of practice all the way from accreditation and certification to codes of ethics.

Many large organizations are beginning to add the position of chief security officer (CSO) to the C-suite. This is great news as it highlights the benefits and importance of a well-designed security unit as a business function. However, some recent trends suggest that some organizations still may misunderstand the impact and role of security.