Aligning cybersecurity with business strategy is crucial for executive leadership. Learn key insights on overcoming C-suite silos and driving innovation.
To begin, Theresa, could you share a bit about your role as Chief Evangelist and how it relates to the evolving landscape of cybersecurity in the C-suite?
As Chief Evangelist, I lead the effort to advance cybersecurity through the vendor-neutral research, writing, and creation of various thought leadership publications, namely the LevelBlue Futures Report. In 2024, the Futures Report examined cyber resilience and how innovation impacted risk. This research is essential for executives and security professionals, enabling them to better understand the evolving threat landscape and develop more resilient cybersecurity strategies. In this position, I serve as a trusted advisor to some of the world’s most innovative and influential companies and executives, consistently driving the cybersecurity industry forward.
What are the most compelling reasons for prioritizing cyber awareness and effective communication at the executive level?
Resilience is the nucleus of an organization’s survival. It’s imperative to view cyber resilience as a strategic business priority that requires a holistic approach from the organization. When silos across the C-suite are broken down and barriers to cyber resilience are identified, leaders can better collaborate to transform strategy and allocate resources that align cybersecurity initiatives with overarching business objectives.
For example, improved alignment within the C-Suite can provide clearer guidance on cybersecurity priorities by fostering a unified approach to risk management and operational resilience. When CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs collaborate closely, they can prioritize investments in cybersecurity technologies that mitigate risks effectively while supporting business objectives. This alignment reduces ambiguity and ensures that resources are allocated strategically, alleviating some of the pressure on CISOs to make unilateral decisions.
In your experience, how do varying priorities among C-suite executives hinder effective risk management and compliance strategies?
In today’s dynamic cybersecurity landscape, effective organizational resilience depends heavily on aligning business priorities within IT, areas of innovation, and cybersecurity teams. Alignment is critical, yet there is still a persistent disconnect among key technology executives—CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs. Each has a different set of responsibilities and priorities, which often creates a misalignment not just among themselves but also in achieving broader business objectives. More importantly, this disconnect points to a critical issue: the gap between executive leadership outside the technology space and the strategic importance of IT and cybersecurity. There needs to be more understanding of how deeply integrated IT and cybersecurity are with overall business success. The goals of the business need to include cybersecurity in a frictionless way.
Too often CTOs, CIOs, and innovation teams don’t include security at the start of projects, and many CEOs, boards, and other C-suite leaders don’t yet see security as a business enabler or core to the company’s work. CIOs, for example, often find themselves in a position where they must mediate between different organizational priorities. Many CIOs have shared that conflicting priorities from other technology leaders can create internal silos, and this fragmentation can lead to inefficiencies in addressing cybersecurity risks. When technology leaders work in isolation, the organization may struggle to implement adequate security measures, as different teams may not coordinate their efforts effectively.
We are starting to see some improvements as more organizations embrace security from the top down, adopting secure-by-design principles and DevSecOps practices. CISOs must continue to advocate for inclusion on all projects and have equal standing with parts of the organization – cybersecurity cannot be an afterthought.
The 2024 LevelBlue Executive Accelerator indicates that 73% of CISOs feel pressured regarding AI’s role in cybersecurity. Can you elaborate on this concern and its implications for organizational resilience?
CISOs are uniquely tasked with operationalizing cybersecurity measures and balancing the integration of AI technologies while safeguarding against evolving threats. Unlike CIOs and CTOs, who focus on broader strategic planning and technological innovation, CISOs are immediately responsible for implementing robust security protocols. This operational burden places them at the forefront of assessing how AI implementations could introduce vulnerabilities or disrupt existing security frameworks.
CISOs are particularly concerned about the operational challenges and resource constraints that accompany AI integration into cybersecurity frameworks. They must navigate trade-offs between leveraging AI’s capabilities, such as its ability to analyze large volumes of data for potential threats, or its speed in identifying and responding to security incidents, while ensuring it does not inadvertently expose the organization to new vulnerabilities or regulatory compliance risks.
Given that only 58% of CIOs and CTOs share similar apprehensions, what factors contribute to this disparity in perception between these roles?
CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs generally share the same perspective on cloud computing’s ability to assist with cyber resilience. And there is consensus among these roles on the increasing level of risk as computing environments become more dynamic and move beyond the walls of an organization.
However, the roles of the CIO, CTIO, and CISO are also distinct in focus, priority, and approach. CIOs typically focus on strategic planning at a high level and approach risk management by considering potential threats in technology decisions. Our research shows CIOs are notably less deterred by uncertainty concerning cyber threats. CTOs, however, tend to focus on technology advancement, but place less emphasis on balancing compliance with innovation. CISOs are primarily concerned with operational security measures and focused on the practical implementation of security protocols across the organization. While CEOs leverage regulatory compliance as a key driver of new cyber budget allocation, CISOs advocate for more budget to proactively address emerging threats.
What actionable strategies would you recommend to help executives align their priorities around cybersecurity more effectively?
To effectively achieve cyber resilience, leaders across every function must agree on top business priorities and align cybersecurity with business strategy. Achieving this goal requires C-suite collaboration – this often includes conflicting priorities.Â
CISOs are essential in shaping the future of cyber resilience within their organizations. By implementing targeted strategies, CISOs can overcome obstacles and drive significant improvements in their organization’s cybersecurity posture. CISOs should focus on enhancing risk management frameworks to balance strategic planning with risk mitigation. This involves implementing comprehensive risk assessment processes and ensuring that all potential threats are considered in the strategic decision-making process.
Additionally, CISOs should work closely with the CIO and CTO to ensure that external and internal risks are comprehensively evaluated and mitigated.Â
Lastly, advocacy for proactive cybersecurity investments is crucial. By highlighting the long-term benefits of forward-looking cybersecurity measures, CISOs can secure the necessary funding and support from the board.Â
How can fostering a culture of cyber resilience within organizations contribute to enhanced innovation and risk management practices?
Fostering a culture of cyber resilience is integral to business success. In today’s digital environment, organizations are constantly weighing innovation versus risk, and most business leaders believe the opportunity of computing innovation outweighs their concern about corresponding increase in cybersecurity risks.Â
As such, essential security considerations are often missed. Whether it be vulnerabilities in the software and physical supply chain, improperly launched applications that compromise user privacy, data migrated to the cloud without proper configuration settings, or unsecured endpoints – the consequences of cyber resilience not being prioritized can leave an organization extremely vulnerable.Â
By embracing a proactive approach, businesses can navigate the complexities of computing with confidence and agility.
Could you provide examples of organizations that have successfully bridged the gaps between cybersecurity and executive leadership?
Cybersecurity needs to be the responsibility of everyone. However, the implementation of cybersecurity needs to be frictionless and integrated with business objectives.
Successful alignment between cybersecurity teams and executive leaders can take many forms including: organizational structure with the CISO reporting directly to the CEO, representation on projects with cybersecurity professionals present from the beginning, and overall better business outcomes and user satisfaction.
As AI technology continues to evolve, how can the C-suite ensure that their cybersecurity measures remain adaptive and effective?
CTOs should prioritize AI strategies that align most closely with business objectives, while working with CISOs to adopt best practices in cybersecurity governance and compliance.
Compliance remains a top consideration for the C-suite; however, organizations often see significant divergence among the CIO, CTO, and CISO roles when it comes to weighing compliance against innovation. Especially as it relates to the pressure to implement artificial intelligence (AI), CISOs are focused on managing the immediate security challenges, known and unknown.Â
CTOs emphasize maintaining a competitive advantage through the use of emerging technology and show less interest and urgency in compliance. At the same time, CIOs view compliance as a key tenet of risk management, essential for maintaining operational stability as new technologies are deployed.Â
Finally, what future trends do you foresee in cybersecurity that executives should be prepared for to maintain a robust defense posture?
As we move into 2025, successful cybersecurity strategies will depend on integrating cybersecurity into the core of business operations. To make collaboration between cybersecurity teams, development teams, and the business successful, leaders need data-backed insights rather than anecdotes.
DevSecOps is not just a buzzword; it’s a shift from treating cybersecurity as an isolated, reactive process to a framework that integrates security from start to finish. For DevSecOps to thrive, development and security teams must understand each other’s needs and prioritize security from the outset of any project. Cybersecurity has to be embedded as an upfront business requirement, not just a checklist item or a governance box to tick off.
Integrating cybersecurity early on in the development process must include a realistic understanding of potential attack vectors and reporting back on how they’re managed. This will be critical to building cyber-resilient organizations going forward.
Theresa Lanowitz
Chief Evangelist at LevelBlue
Theresa Lanowitz is the Chief Evangelist at LevelBlue, a strategic alliance between AT&T and WillJam Ventures, that simplifies cybersecurity for the businesses fueling our global economy. With a distinguished career in the technology industry, she has held influential roles at companies including Gartner, Borland, Taligent, and Sun Microsystems, significantly impacting application security and emerging technologies. Theresa is a globally respected leader known for her deep and diverse experience in cybersecurity. Theresa frequently speaks at major industry conferences sharing her insights on high tech trends, AI integration, and the evolving threat landscape. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.