Black Hat , CISO Trainings , Events

Joe Sullivan on CISO Imperatives: Responsibility, Authority

CISOs have more responsibility than ever before, and the consequences of a security failure can be devastating. The question many CISOs are asking is: Do I have the authority to fulfill my responsibilities effectively? Drawing from his experience as the former CSO of Uber, Joe Sullivan, CEO of Ukraine Friends, delved into the growing expectations for CISOs to take ownership of cybersecurity decisions.

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From disclosure questions to the shifting responsibilities of security leaders, Sullivan shared his insights on the intricacies of leading a fast-paced corporate cybersecurity organization and efforts to bolster transparency and collaboration in the face of evolving threats. "Security is a collective investment, and everybody's on the hook for protecting our customers," he said.

"What we all want is as much transparency as possible," he said. "One of the things that's a fundamental challenge that most security leaders are worried about is the internal dynamic - because there's more expectation of transparency, but not everybody inside the company wants to be transparent."

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group at Black Hat Europe 2023, Sullivan also discussed:

• Why collaboration between the public and private sectors is needed to combat cyberthreats;
• Lessons from the Uber case and advice to CISOs on crisis management;
• How Ukraine Friends is helping businesses in the conflict zone enhance their cyber defenses.

Sullivan is a lawyer, CISO and former federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. He served as a CSO at Facebook, Uber and Cloudflare and as an associate general counsel at PayPal. Sullivan co-founded the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Unit at the Department of Justice and worked there for eight years.