CSOs speak out on today's leadership challenges

CSOs speak out on today's leadership challenges

What leadership issues are challenging and motivating today’s senior security executives? I put that question out to a “brain trust” of chief security officers, VPs of security, and security directors across several verticals, sizes, geographies, and reporting structures. The following represent some of the most pertinent leadership issues identified by your peers today. Downsizing and Restructuring “Many organizations are experiencing mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, restructuring, reductions in workforce and layoffs — the latter two items affecting…

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Your favorite security leadership podcasts

Your favorite security leadership podcasts

For a pretty tight-lipped bunch, security professionals have found a place where they can open up: podcasts. Interesting and relevant podcasts are everywhere. They are devoted to cybersecurity, risk and tactics. They cover executive protection, threat intelligence and loss prevention. They talk about hacking, secure coding and insider risk. They explore the intricacies of guarding, access control and surveillance. How do you choose out of the thousands of possibilities? To narrow it down, I went…

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Has “Thought Leadership” Lost Its Luster?

Has “Thought Leadership” Lost Its Luster?

The term “thought leader” originated 30 years ago this month in PWC’s magazine Strategy+Business. Today, among LinkedIn’s billion users, is there anyone who doesn’t self-identify as a thought leader — bots and scammers included? That’s an exaggeration, but in an age of ubiquitous claims of thought leadership in security and the broader business world, has that term lost its luster? Or even its credibility? The question of the term’s use and applicability arose recently on…

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Balancing cost and protection: Budgeting physical security programs

Balancing cost and protection: Budgeting physical security programs

Budgeting for physical security programs is a strategic balancing act between maximizing the safety of people and assets while keeping costs down and ensuring a good ROI on the program’s budget spend. As security program leaders, the role that budgeting plays is crucial to the success of the organization, providing both short- and long-term goals for not only operational investments, but capital investments that will move the needle for the security team. On the surface,…

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Proper crisis management is a cornerstone of business continuity

Proper crisis management is a cornerstone of business continuity

In today’s fast-paced and unpredictable world, organizations must be prepared to manage crises that can arise unexpectedly. Whether facing a natural disaster, product failure or fraud, a leader’s ability to respond effectively in high-stakes situations can determine the organization’s future. Crisis management, guided by the investigative standards of P.L.A.N. (Preparation, Learning, Analysis, and Notification) as outlined in Security Investigations: A Professional’s Guide by Larry Nicholson, Ph.D., and Alan Saquella, CPP, CPE, is crucial. Additionally, implementing…

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Building security bridges

Building security bridges

Farhan Sahito is no stranger to security. Beginning as a police officer in 2002, Sahito worked his way through both government and private organizations, transitioning from physical to cybersecurity over the course of his decades-long career. In this Profile in Excellence, Sahito walks through the course of his career, providing insight and advice to future security leaders. Security: Describe your career from beginning to present-day Sahito: My cybersecurity career commenced in Pakistan, where I completed…

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Why women should consider cybersecurity to help close the skills gap

Why women should consider cybersecurity to help close the skills gap

Children are often asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” For the majority of individuals, professions such as teacher, nurse, pilot or astronaut were popular responses. However, for generation alpha, these responses have shifted to viral YouTube sensations or TikTok content creators due to today’s popularity of social media apps. So what does this mean for low visibility jobs like cybersecurity? There are countless jobs that are necessary for the safety…

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Top security conferences in 2024

Top security conferences in 2024

Security conferences provide both public and private sector security leaders with an opportunity to network with colleagues, learn about new business & security strategies to develop their own physical security & risk programs. Security magazine brings you a list of the top physical security conferences to attend across the world in 2024. ASIS Europe Vienna, Austria March 20 — 22, 2024 ASIS Europe brings together aspiring and established security leaders from across the continent and…

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Security leadership philosophy and LinkedIn communication style

Security leadership philosophy and LinkedIn communication style

Reading a LinkedIn post by security professional Tyler Schmoker is like reading an e.e. cummings poem. The Poetry Foundation describes cummings’ work as “spare and precise, employing a few key words eccentrically placed on the page,” grammar and punctuation sprinkled idiosyncratically. Now take that, add some emojis, generous use of the “return” key, lots of ellipses and a breadcrumb-like progression down the page, and you approximate a Schmoker original. Then there’s the subject matter, which…

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Should you write a security book?

Should you write a security book?

In this era of self-publishing, ebooks, gig ghostwriters and publishing on demand, it seems there are maybe 12 people in the security profession who haven’t written a book. Actually, the vast majority of us haven’t. Are we missing an opportunity? Authorship connotes power, authority, confidence, discipline, credibility and mastery — all elements of leadership. Is it time for you to publish a book? There are many factors to consider. You will not make much money,…

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