Cyber Defense eMagazine June 2020 Edition

As well as adding to the CISO’s job description, the rise of cyber crime has also put the role under
increasing scrutiny. It’s easy to see why, as research shows that most CISOs and the entire C-Suite
believe the CISO is ultimately responsible for responding to a data breach on behalf of the organization.
With numerous day-to-day responsibilities, many organizations have decided to add another role into the
mix to give the CISO a helping hand. This is where the Chief Cybercrime Officer (CCO) comes in.
Say hello to the CCO
The CCO’s role involves ensuring the organization is cyber-ready. They bear the responsibility of
mitigating breaches, taking the lead if a breach does occur and providing the necessary link between the
Board and the rest of the company to reduce risk and work cohesively to resolve problems
instantaneously. This role should ease the load on the CISO and ensure the organization can get one
step ahead of hackers in the cyber crime race. However, organizations must take into account the need
for both the CISO and CCO to work in tandem, which involves ensuring each role is clearly defined and
has full support from the Board.
CISO and CCO working together
The CISO and CCO share a common goal of keeping the company’s data safe from cyber threats. Yet,
the definition of what each role entails might be different for each organization. While the CCO will be
focused on the system architecture, the CISO will be focused on the security of the information within the
organization. With this defined, there should be no reason that both roles can’t work collaboratively
towards keeping the organization and its data safe.
With both roles working in harmony, the next step that organizations need to take is ensuring the CISO
and the CCO have enough influence with the Board to make critical decisions and resolve issues
immediately. To do this, the Board should have full visibility of the entire cyber security strategy, which
should be regularly reviewed and updated in line with new threats and intelligence. From this, the CCO
and CISO can be given the responsibility to report and respond to incidents and make rapid decisions on
behalf of the business. This is essential as, in the event of a data breach, removing unnecessary
authorization steps ensures that the organization can respond quickly and put remediating measures in
place to minimize potentially catastrophic repercussions.
Cyber security threats are increasing day by day and these threats can’t be ignored. Organizations must
consider what the most effective structure is that will enable decisions to be made quickly and that will
leave space for both the CISO and CCO to work in tandem.
Cyber Defense eMagazine –June 2020 Edition 104
Copyright © 2020, Cyber Defense Magazine. All rights reserved worldwide.