Today's challenging reality presents an opportunity for CISO’s to reevaluate the economics and efficiencies of their current infosec program. To do so, CISO’s must narrow their focus on maximizing their return on investments and shift to a risk-based prioritization strategy. No matter the situation, CISO’s are always expected to meet goals and drive results. Even though security professionals cannot reduce risk to zero, they can reduce risk significantly by first eliminating the most impactful risks facing their organization.  Below, I discuss the four critical steps of leading an economical and efficient information security program while following a risk-based approach.

Before COVID, cybersecurity was a concern for businesses everywhere. In fact, in Microsoft’s 2019 Global Risk Perception Survey, 57 percent of companies ranked cybersecurity as a higher risk than economic uncertainty and brand reputation or damage. Looking ahead, what does all of this mean for the role of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)? Not only is it more important than ever before, but the role has shifted since the start of COVID.

U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) led a group of six senators in introducing the Federal Labor-Management COVID Partnership Act, a bill that would keep federal workers safe during public health emergencies, including the current COVID-19 pandemic, by creating formal labor-management task forces at both the Executive Branch and agency level.