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Letter from Kevin West, June 2018

CISO TRENDS: SHARING WHAT WE HEARD AT THE RSA CONFERENCE

In this issue of Feats of Strength, we tackle top CISO trends and challenges. These come directly from interviews and conversations with CISOs during the most recent RSA conference.

In previous years at the conference, we spent our time meeting on the fly with customers and some of our CISO advisors. This year, we approached it with a different mindset. I attended with my colleagues Kevin Pouche (COO) and Katie Haug (Director of Marketing), and we set out to make an impact and have meaningful CISO conversations.

Our goal was to meet with as many thought leader CISOs as possible and conduct quickfire interviews to collect trends. Not only were we able to pull together strong trends for Feats of Strength articles, but we are taking action on much of what we heard to improve K logix’s market approach and service offerings.

Here are some of the CISOs we interviewed:
Chris Porter, CISO, Fannie Mae
Cory Scott, CISO, LinkedIn
David Levine, CISO, RICOH
Meg Anderson, CISO, Principal Financial
Mike Raeder, CISO, OrbitalATK
Patricia Titus, CISO, Markel
Richard Rushing, CISO, Motorola Mobility
Rich Licato, CISO, ARC

We also interviewed CISOs who chose to remain anonymous, yet still provided quality, transparent answers to our questions.

As each CISO sat down in our suite over the course of a few days at the RSA conference, we began asking a set of ten questions starting with what trends are most prevalent at the conference. Some of the top trends and hot topics during our CISO interviews included AI/Machine Learning, Digital Transformation, GDPR, 3rd Party Assessments, and more. Here are a few snippets of thought around some of these topics:

AI and Machine Learning. Over 40% of the CISOs we spoke with said AI and Machine Learning were top trends, mainly the influx of messaging and hype around these topics. With so many companies competing for precious budget dollars from security teams, many used marketing hype tactics to attract new customers.

After speaking with many CISOs, we found they approach any company who touts the AI/Machine Learning message with caution. On page 15 in our CISO Q&A article, you can read more about what CISOs are saying about this hot trend from the conference, and currently facing the industry as a whole.

Digital Transformation. 100% of the CISOs we spoke with say their programs and organizations are impacted by digital transformation. We discuss their top challenges when it comes to digital transformation, including security being included from the start and trying to keep up with innovation, on page 14.

GDPR. 60% of the CISOs said their programs were impacted by GDPR. What I found interesting was many CISOs discussed the clear partnership that evolved from working with Privacy Officers during the GDPR readiness period.

Along with many other interesting and insightful trends, I hope you enjoy reading this issue of Feats of Strength magazine.

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