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With cybersecurity playing such an essential role in modern-day business culture, many companies are sourcing highly specialized personnel to help keep their organizations secure. While departmental structures vary from company to company, many would agree a dedicated Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) provides the best bang for buck when establishing sustainable security practices now and in the future.

But what exactly does a CISO do? More importantly, do have they have the necessary skillsets and bandwidth to manage all areas of enterprise security in today’s business landscape?

What is a CISO?

CISO is an executive-level professional tasked with a variety of functionalities in support of the organization’s information and data security. Depending on the organization’s structure, the CISO may also be referred to as the Information Security Manager, Security Architect, or Corporate Security Officer.

What are a CISO’s core responsibilities?

A CISO can be tasked with any number of mission-critical priorities, from enforcing best security practices throughout the organization to managing and maintaining strict data compliance standards. A CISO is a critical part of an organization’s continuity and overall security posture and has a variety of day-to-day activities that can be both time-sensitive and require coordination with multiple other departments.

Some of these responsibilities can include:

  • Risk management assessments – CISOs regularly audit the organization’s security posture, taking note of potential vulnerabilities in all business networks and systems while building plans to address them.
  • Cybersecurity awareness training – CISOs take the lead in developing cybersecurity education programs for all employees and regularly test their effectiveness.
  • Security operations – CISOs develop and implement procedures for managing all aspects of end-to-end security initiatives, including real-time threat monitoring and analysis.
  • Sourcing and purchasing security products and services – CISOs assess all areas of the business’s security needs and work with third-party providers to implement necessary security tools and services.
  • Disaster recovery planning – To ensure business continuity in the event of a data breach or catastrophic event, CISOs prepare detailed disaster recovery plans that outline all processes necessary to get the company operational with as little downtime as possible.

Although CISOs are well-qualified to manage many aspects of business security, in many cases, reliance on internal teams and resources alone is not enough. In order to effectively reduce your organization’s attack surface, it may be necessary to work with outside security experts who have the tools and solutions to scale your cybersecurity efforts.

Managing your organization’s security needs

While hiring a dedicated CISO may be the ideal scenario for your organization, the reality is sourcing highly-qualified staff in this field may prove difficult. CISO’s have specialized experience in developing secure business systems and communications practices, and it can take time to find an in-house employee capable of handling all the day-to-day responsibilities.

But for companies who aren’t able to source a dedicated CISO for their organization, how do they ensure that they are enforcing the most effective security practices while minimizing their attack surface? The answer is by working with professional cybersecurity solution providers who can help create a secure enterprise environment with an affordable costing structure.

Comodo Cybersecurity is the world’s leading zero trust endpoint protection platform, cloud-delivered, and enterprise-ready. Comodo Cybersecurity provides Active Breach Protection in one unified platform, implementing global threat intelligence network detection and response to give users complete transparency over the security of their business networks. And with Comodo’s 24/7/365 Security Operations Center, organizations get on-demand access to cybersecurity experts who can work with on-premise IT teams to prioritize security vulnerabilities and quickly remediate issues. 

If you want the cybersecurity expertise and experience that a CISO offers with the controlled costs and scalability of a cloud-based service, then Contact Comodo Cybersecurity Today for a free trial of their services.

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