RSAC 2020 Watchlist: Effective CISO Communications And Maturing Data Privacy

In advance of the RSA Conference, we highlight some of the leading trends and provide a glimpse of what will be on the minds of cyber security professionals in 2020.

Data Privacy’s Maturity Takes Center Stage

A logical by-product of GDPR, this year will witness the operationalization of privacy with concerted efforts around frameworks and—consequently—automation. There is a notable shift in the tone and type of privacy-related talks this year, reflecting of some maturation and understanding of the impact of privacy across products, services and organizations. That maturity seemed to also be a driver for more technical submissions, including homomorphic encryption.

Where privacy once was a nice-to-have indication of “good corporate citizenship,” it seems to now be trending as a core business and security conversation as organizations look to capture and protect user intent, not just because of regulatory compliance concerns, but also to provide business differentiation and positive user experience. The “privacy” and “security” functions within organizations are working together in new, positive ways.

See Related: Large Software Companies Using Data Privacy As A Competitive Advantage

The enterprise world is heavily in flux with privacy conversations, and this year’s conversations highlight challenges and unintended consequences of GDPR, a rapidly exploding landscape of regional, national and global privacy regulations (some in conflict with one another), exploration of ethical considerations related to privacy and data security and an overall sentiment of “we can and must do more, better.”

Effective CISO Communications

Another highlight for 2020 is the human need for clear communication. In order to do their jobs effectively, CSOs need to understand all that has moved into the realm of their purview. To that end, many experienced security leaders can offer guidance on how to prepare CSOs for all aspects of the job. There are a variety of ways to help CSOs and CISOs where they need it most: communication up, down, across and throughout their organizations and the organizations that are part of their extensive supply chains. The range of possibilities goes from creating a good cyber security dashboard for the board to how to use metrics in order to create successful presentations to how to help different functions within organizations to really talk to and understand each other, not just in words but in actions (the rise of purple teaming is achieving great things for organizations).

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See Related: Six Traits Of Successful Enterprise CISOs