CISO Trainings , Events , Infosecurity Europe Conference

Transparency, Not Reticence: CISOs' Key to Crisis Aversion

Crisis management is a crucial skill for organizations and CISOs. It starts with understanding the business and tailoring plans to its needs, according to Stuart Seymour, group CISO and CSO, Virgin Media O2.

See Also: The CISO Playbook for Cloud Security

Learning from history and openly discussing past successes and failures helps CISOs manage crises effectively, Seymour said. Drawing upon his military experience, he pointed out that the CISO "orchestrates all of the moving parts in a crisis."

"It's all about the level of maturity of an organization. For many organizations, declaring a crisis for them suggests that they are out of control, that the worst has happened, that they should have foreseen and didn't," he said. "There is a reticence because there's an admission that something bad has happened."

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group at Infosecurity Europe 2024, Seymour also discussed:

• The need to build relationships with executive committee members and maintain their confidence;
• Why internal and external communications must be synchronized;
• Why transparency is key to averting a crisis.

Seymour has more than 25 years of leadership experience in cybersecurity, security consultancy, physical security and crisis management. He has designed, managed and delivered complex, fiscally prudent security solutions by finding a balance between security, availability and business enablement.