Know everything about the Job of a Certified Chief Information Security officer

Posted by Gis Consulting on November 14th, 2019

A Chief Information Security Officer or CISO is a dedicated security professional who has touched the pinnacle of the information security profession which includes but not limited to Network Security, Server Security, cyber security, physical security, legal security & human resource security. The truth is that the path of becoming a certified chief information security officer is not an easy affair at all but if you have enough patience and determination towards learning the new trends in security domain, you can keep yourself learning in a continuous manner, the level of CISO can be achieved.

The Responsibilities of CISO:

As a CISO, you will end up with lot of security responsibilities. You will be the one who will oversee all the security policies and procedures of your organization. You need to be familiar with all the latest trends and technologies of cyber security as well as the new software tools used to penetrate the networks & applications. You must be aware of the present behavior of cybercriminals. In many organizations, CISO works in a parallel manner with Chief Information Officer (CIO) who is responsible for the entire security function of an organization. As a Chief Security Information Officer, you must know how your organization makes decisions so that you can provide the input from the security point of view. It’s your responsibility to make firm decisions regarding IT technology, Network security, Security operations, Cyber risk and cyber intelligence, Data loss and fraud prevention, Security architecture, Identity and access management, Investigations and forensics and database integrity.

The Six Step Career Path of CISO-

•          Starts career as a programmer/analyst
•          Have the proper education to become the security analyst
•          Obtains proper training and certification
•          Handles an operational security team
•          Masters in Information Security or MBA with IT Security major
•          Get a promotion to Chief Information Security Officer

Salary Structure:

Every company has a different salary structure. When it comes to securing your position as a chief Information security officer in an organization, you will likely to go for lengthy process of negotiation with the company. You shouldn’t forget about the different aspects of your compensation like your company cars, moving allowance, medical insurance, accommodations etc.

The way to negotiate a higher salary package is leveraging your education.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ current update, the average salary of a CISO is 5,800 while the upper 10% of the professionals earn 8,000 more annually.

 The job responsibilities of CISO:

Usually a CISO is always tasked with the following responsibilities but any specific job responsibilities would depend on the size and maturity of the organization-

Responsible for all the security related management and communications

•          Risk assessment
•          Developing the strategic security road map
•          Running and updating an efficient risk management program
•          Responsible for regulatory compliance and systematic audits
•          Vendor management
•          Management of policies and procedures
•          Asset management based on the criticality of assets and asset classification
•          Building a scalable security architecture
•          Providing security awareness and training to the other stuffs of the organization
•          Incident Management

Always remember one thing that in this present scenario where the number and complexity of security threat is burgeoning, the role of CISO has become imperative for any organization, regardless the type and size of the industry.