What Smart CISOs and Mature Orgs Get That Others Don’t About Cyber Compliance – Matt Coose – PSW #814
Matt Coose is the founder and CEO of cybersecurity compliance firm Qmulos, previously the director of Federal Network Security for the National Cyber Security Division of the (DHS).
CISOs carry the ultimate burden and weight of compliance and reporting and are often the last buck. Says Coose, best-of-breed is better described as best-to-bleed-the-budget: it’s a bottom-up, tech-first, reactive approach for acquiring technology as opposed to managing risk. Coose shares his top considerations below for how CISOs can navigate the crowded market of cybersecurity tools when cost is highly scrutinized, but regulations keep growing.
Platforms are what every vendor dreams of being called, but no platform does it all, says Coose.
Coose shares what smart CISOs and mature organizations understand, that others don’t:
• There’s no “buying their way out of security issues or into a better risk posture.” They understand the need to evolve to a top-down, risk-driven, inherently business-aligned, dynamically adaptable, and evidence-based security management strategy.
• That looking at technology choices through the lens of risk controls (and the related data provided by technology that implements those controls) enables credible and transparent strategic tech portfolio management decisions that are immune to vendor preferences or the latest market(ing) fads.
• The need for meaningful security and risk measurement and the difference between leading and lagging indicators.
• The original intent of security and regulatory compliance as a model for proactive and consistent risk management (leading indicator), not just a historical reporting and audit function (lagging indicator).
• That managing risk, compliance, and security as distinct and separate functions is not only wasteful and inefficient, but denies the enterprise the ability to cross-leverage significant people, process, and technology investments
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Guest
Matt is a long-time IT and cybersecurity executive with extensive experience in operational cybersecurity and large-scale security and risk management programs. After graduating from West Point, Matt served as an Army pilot, and worked with both large and small businesses in the private sector before transitioning to government. Prior to founding Qmulos, he served as the Senior Executive and Director of Federal Network Security at DHS, where he led the transformation of FISMA across the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government. While working with White House staff, he jointly conceived and initiated the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Program, a multi-billion dollar cybersecurity continuous monitoring program.
