The First 100 Days as CISO

Our Advice

Critical Insight

• Every CISO needs to follow Info-Tech’s five-step approach to truly succeed in their new position. The meaning and expectations of a CISO role will differ from organization to organization and person to person, however, the approach to the new position will be relatively the same.
• Eighty percent of your time will be spent listening. The first 100 days of the CISO role is an information gathering exercise that will involve several conversations with different stakeholders and business divisions. Leverage this collaborative time to understand the business, its internal and external operations, and its people. Unequivocally, active listening will build company trust and help you to build an information security vision that reflects that of the business strategy.
• Start “working” before you actually start the job. This involves finding out as much information about the company before officially being an employee. Investigate the company website and leverage available organizational documents and initial discussions to better understand your employer’s leadership, company culture ,and business model.

Impact and Result

• Hit the ground running with Info-Tech’s ready-made agenda vetted by CISO professionals to impress your colleagues and superiors.
• Gather details needed to understand the organization (i.e. people, process, technology) and determine the current state of the security program.
• Track and assess high-level security gaps using Info-Tech’s diagnostic tools and compare yourself to your industry’s vertical using benchmarking data.
• Deliver an executive presentation that shows key findings obtained from your security evaluation.