This year, CISOs are shifting their focus to cyber resilience, creating a balance between threat protection and business recovery. One CISO said, “It’s important to establish a risk appetite and thresholds to effectively measure and communicate risk levels.” Others talk about the “minimum viable company activities,” or the most critical processes that have to remain running for the organization to function. Cyber resilience speaks to the need for security leaders to have robust response strategies in the event of attacks and improve their organizational resilience and ability to recover quickly. Here, we take a closer look at security leaders’ functional and enterprise priorities, as well as their goals and challenges in 2025, based on our proprietary survey of 2,000 CISOs across Gartner C-level Communities. Cyber resilience was added as https://consultprofound.com/best-data-center-security-practices-in-the-age-of-digital-transformation.html an option to our annual Leadership Perspective Survey for the first time, and it quickly superseded other focus areas to become the top CISO priority of 2025.

But with the right strategies and a proactive approach, you can navigate this intricate landscape effectively. Building long-term relationships with these firms encourages ongoing improvement, aligns everyone on common goals, and ensures clear communication, leading to stronger and more effective cybersecurity practices. This includes familiarity with regulations like GDPR, HIPAA and others that impact global operations. With increasing legal and regulatory requirements around data security, CISOs need a thorough understanding of compliance issues. This includes knowledge of https://callmeconstruction.com/news/ssl-definition-uses-and-significance/ networks, systems, cloud services and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.

RACI is a widely used framework in project and organizational management to clarify roles and responsibilities, especially in complex processes like cybersecurity operations. Building a culture of cybersecurity awareness within an organization starts with your leadership commitment and your ability to clearly communicate your vision, while also showcasing your understanding of the organization’s larger growth strategy. The insights and services we provide help to create long-term value for clients, people and society, and to build trust in the capital markets.

Why leadership matters as much as technology

Many CISOs lead high-level discussions about security strategy and help business leaders understand trends and risks that impact the organization. Addressing these stressors through better data management, automation, and contextualized alerting is essential for retaining the CISO’s most valuable asset — people — especially in a vast talent desert. She also advises CISOs to work with their company’s federal affairs office, if their company has one, to better understand and prepare for the global issues that concern the company. As a CISO, he wants to understand the AI models built into the software products his organization is using to ensure they’re protecting his company’s data, that their models are secure, and that they’re reliable. For example, 53% of security leaders ranked AI-enabled cyber threats as a top-three organizational risk in a global survey conducted by Boston Consulting Group.

• What we found was that the most impactful security leaders aren’t just enduring; they’re innovating — leading their organizations into a future defined by intelligent, secure operations.
• It also builds a better shared understanding of where the organisation is actually strong and where it is still maturing.
• It describes how roles, processes, reporting, decision flows, and escalation paths work together to support security outcomes.
• Aaron McCray, field CISO for technology solutions and services company CDW, says more CISOs are focused on resiliency as security leaders work to align with business strategy and see security as a business enabler.
• A passion for information technology and a commitment to continuous learning are essential for success as a CISO, but so is understanding how to lead people.

Global Human Capital Trends

This is driving a renewed focus on high-level training and expert simulations that help organizations run more securely and with greater confidence. Security is a shared responsibility across all employees in an organization, with the CISO upholding regular awareness campaigns and building support systems. Building these relationships early in the onboarding process is invaluable to creating trust and establishing a new CISO’s personal commitment and identification with the business’s security values. New CISOs on the job will seek to understand their company, identify key subject matter experts, and most critically, take time to listen to and learn from those they speak to.

It describes how roles, processes, reporting, decision flows, and escalation paths work together to support security outcomes. A CISO who understands resilience works closely with business continuity, disaster recovery, legal, communications, and operations teams. Cyber risk governance starts with understanding which risks matter, who owns them, and how the organisation decides what to do about them. As it seems that no company or industry is safe from attack these days, organizations need to ensure they have strong leadership guiding their security strategies so they avoid putting themselves in a high-risk category. Security leaders should enforce a secure-by-design approach for AI systems, ensuring auditability, explainability, and governance.

Governing cyber risk

By understanding the campaigns an adversary might launch, you are better positioned not only to withstand an attack but also to recover from it more effectively. The term “resilience” is seen everywhere, but a shared understanding is critical for progress. Understanding the machine learning models, data pipelines and decision logic behind these tools is essential for modern cybersecurity professionals. With more than a third of executives now ranking cyberthreats as a top business risk, according to a 2024 Allianz survey, chief information security officers (CISOs) have unprecedented influence—and responsibility—to shape enterprise strategy.

• As part of this effort, Currie and team are focusing on better understanding how threat actors themselves are using AI — and studying how HCLSoftware’s internal use of AI could add risk.
• This role focuses more on how the organization’s IT systems are secure from internal and external threats.
• Accountability as a priority is essential if CISOs want to finish 2025 in a stronger position than when the year started, says David Chaddock, managing director for cybersecurity at digital services firm West Monroe.
• Historically, many organizations never had to manage the remote edge as they relied on in-person, on-location workforce processes.
• The insights and services we provide help to create long-term value for clients, people and society, and to build trust in the capital markets.
• Leading-edge CISOs are also implementing additional accountability strategies to ensure their teams know the organization’s security priorities and that other executives and business leaders do their part to help secure the enterprise.

This role focuses more on how the organization’s IT systems are secure from internal and external threats. Historically, many organizations never had to manage the remote edge as they relied on in-person, on-location workforce processes. Gaining visibility into these applications and endpoints remains critical, as organizations cannot secure access points that elude detection and process accounting. This requires even more influence, communication and leadership across the organization to ensure all stakeholders understand strategies for risk management and resilience.

As part of this effort, Currie and team are focusing on better understanding how threat actors themselves are using AI — and studying how HCLSoftware’s internal use of AI could add risk. Accountability as a priority is essential if CISOs want to finish 2025 in a stronger position than when the year started, says David Chaddock, managing director for cybersecurity at digital services firm West Monroe. Leading-edge CISOs are also implementing additional accountability strategies to ensure their teams know the organization’s security priorities and that other executives and business leaders do their part to help secure the enterprise.