Five topics shaping the information security agenda

What’s important to the CISO in 2025

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Cyber agility: The key to balancing risks and opportunities

As a chief information security officer (CISO), your role is expanding significantly as enterprise risk priorities and threats grow more complex and widespread. Cyber strategy, governance, reporting and risk management practices now face heightened scrutiny from regulators, with the potential for continuous oversight as the political landscape shifts. As cybersecurity becomes increasingly intertwined with the adoption of emerging technologies, CISOs will need to defend against a wide array of threats targeting diverse entry points and surfaces across your enterprise. To stay ahead, take an agile and collaborative approach, integrating resilience and security by design to support innovation, transformation and growth while keeping stakeholders informed on the latest risks.

In the spotlight

Data risk is a business priority

Many industry leaders understand that data is a business imperative. CISOs are concerned about classifying, encrypting and preventing the loss of sensitive data to protect regulator and consumer trust. However, lack of visibility and a holistic approach to manage data risk is impeding strategic growth and transformation initiatives. Managing this complex problem starts by treating data risk as a top-line business agenda.

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[48%] of business executives say they’re prioritizing data protection and data trust as their top cyber investment

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What to focus on in 2025

Resilience

Bridge cyber resilience gaps

Rising technology and information security risks from third-party vendor relationships and supply chains are testing the resilience of many companies. Threat actors are looking to disrupt operations and gain access to businesses through multiple back doors. Staying secure requires continuous vigilance and a holistic approach across people, processes and technology. Organizations prioritizing resilience regularly assess gaps to improve strategies.

CISOs can lead resilience-building efforts by proactively assessing risks and scenario planning, guiding investments to address those risks, implementing training and running simulations and tabletop exercises. This is also an opportunity to align resilience plans with business strategy. Translating how strong enterprise resilience practices can benefit the business is just as important as the plan itself — and may lead to more integrated, collaborative approaches.

Additional ways to bridge cyber resilience gaps

Resilience

Quantum next: Navigating a new cyber landscape

Is your organization ready for a post-quantum world? Learn the steps to take to adopt quantum resistant tech, and more.

Resilience

Staying above the cloud on risks and controls

Implement cloud transformation strategies for your company while navigating risk and compliance implications.

Cybersecurity and privacy

Ransomware: Four things you need to know

Four things you need to know about the new dangers of ransomware and what you can do to defend yourself.

Risk management

Business continuity planning solutions

Rethink contingency planning to help identify, prepare and prevent events that may disrupt your business activities.

{Only 2%} of executives have implemented cyber resilience actions across 12 areas surveyed

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Cybersecurity and privacy

Align cyber investments to business strategy

As a CISO, you’re expected to lead the C-suite on cyber risk management and resilience implementation. Yet CISO involvement in business activities impacted by cybersecurity is still falling short. This disconnect could factor into gaps in readiness and adequate investment to address vulnerabilities and threats. Only 21% of executives usually allocate cyber budget to the top risks to the organization.

To gain executive buy-in, consistently measure and quantify risk in a way that resonates with your C-suite and stakeholders, communicate risks from a business perspective, and demonstrate the direct impact a robust cybersecurity plan can have on your company’s growth trajectory and overall risk profile.

Additional ways to align cyber investments to business strategy

Cybersecurity and privacy

Cybersecurity: The role of CISO in today’s business strategy

Tune into the podcast and explore the importance of cybersecurity in the C-suite and how CISOs are evolving beyond their traditional roles.

Cybersecurity and privacy

Bridging the gaps to cyber resilience: The C-suite playbook

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Technology

It’s not the tech, it’s you: How to create measurable outcomes

Find out how to create measurable outcomes and value through digital transformation.

Digital risk

Cyber risk quantified. Cyber risk managed

Quantifying the financial risks of different cyber threats can increase the bang for the cyber buck: it enables you to direct resources to the greatest risks.

{Less than 50%} of CISOs say they are involved to a large extent in strategic planning on cyber investments

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Regulation and compliance

Team with the C-suite and board to foster cyber transparency

To build trust with shareholders and customers, regulators are requiring businesses to be more transparent about how they manage and govern cyber risks. With this scrutiny, the C-suite can work with the CISO to align cyber capabilities with business goals and deliver accurate reporting, while the board takes a more active cyber risk oversight role.

However, increasing regulatory complexity and challenges aligning standards across multiple agencies makes achieving transparency more difficult. A strong partnership between the CISO, C-suite and board is key.

CISOs can frame cyber risks as business risks, collaborating with risk, financial, technology and legal teams to simplify and contextualize your company’s cyber posture and keep the board well-informed. This shared understanding also supports more defensible reports to regulators.

Additional ways to team with the C-suite

Regulation and compliance

Unpacking the first wave of form 10K cyber disclosures

What companies reported, what it means (so far) and next steps. What can these form 10K filings tell us about cybersecurity disclosures?

Regulation and compliance

Cyber reporting for critical infrastructure

Discover the implications of proposed updates to CIRCIA and its requirements on covered entities.

Regulation and compliance

Risk and compliance reimagined: Unlock hidden savings and performance

Learn how organizations can cut costs and improve quality by reimagining risk management and compliance programs.

Risk management

Overseeing cyber risk: the board's role

Examine four key areas where boards can take a more active oversight role to support cyber risk management.

[13%] point gap in confidence between CISOs/chief security officers and CEOs regarding compliance with AI and resilience regulations

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Digital oversight and cybersecurity

Create a cloud and digital transformation security plan

Are your cybersecurity capabilities ready to meet your company’s transformation needs? Modernizing platforms and adopting a cloud-first approach can deliver powerful business results, but security should come first. CISOs can balance innovation with security by planning and implementing foundationally strong cyber practices to close gaps and prevent vulnerabilities.

Success starts with a clear integration plan. Work with your company’s technology leaders to set and prioritize security and transformation goals, building security into every step from start to finish.

Additional ways to translate cyber risk to the board

Digital oversight and cybersecurity

Building the AI-powered business: 4 ways cloud leaders redefine success

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Digital oversight and cybersecurity

Staying above the cloud on risks and controls

Implement cloud transformation strategies for your company while navigating risk and compliance implications.

Generative AI

Managing the risks of generative AI

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Risk management

NIST post-quantum cryptography standards: Key questions and actions for implementation

Learn more on the new post-quantum cryptography standards — and how organizations must integrate these algorithms to protect against future quantum threats.

[42%] of executives identified cloud-related threats as the most concerning cyber threat they are least prepared to address

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Data security

Enhance data trust and protection measures

Data is the engine for business innovation, transformation and growth. Advances in generative AI (GenAI) have unlocked the potential for faster insights, lifting barriers to scalable analysis through automation and operational enhancements. To seize this transformative upside, data quality, security and governance are imperative to mitigate accuracy, privacy and trust risks. Companies proactively investing in tools and practices to better manage and safeguard their data are a step ahead.

Align with your data leaders to reassess your data governance protocols and priorities. Focus on identifying critical data elements, where they are stored, and verify controls are in place for data quality and security. This is an opportunity to drill down on data accuracy and possible exposure or loss that could compromise customer trust and regulatory compliance.

Additional ways to enhance data trust

Data security

Managing the risks of generative AI

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Governance

Good governance for AI: 5 real-world insights for risk professionals

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Data governance

Trust, risk, and opportunity: overseeing a comprehensive data and privacy strategy

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[48%] of business executives prioritize data protection and data trust as the top cyber investment over the next year — ahead of tech modernization and optimization

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