Establishing partnerships with vendors and security experts
CISOs need to establish partnerships with vendors and security experts. A CISO is the overall head of the IT security docket in any organization and is tasked with creating a network with possible vendors and security experts that can help in situations where security expertise and implementation are required.
The following sections will show how to establish these partnerships and how beneficial these partnerships are from a security perspective.
Establishing partnerships
Creating partnerships with vendors of software tools is a critical component that helps a CISO in offering effective security to their organization. With good partnerships, the CISO can purchase tools and software from vendors at friendly prices. These friendly prices enable an organization to make cost savings on issues such as purchasing antivirus programs that are necessary for safeguarding the networks in an organization. Other tools that come in handy in CISO security operations are the testing tools and software that an ethical hacker needs to attempt to gain access into a firm. Ethical hackers are hired by the CISO to attempt hacking into the system. The tools used for such exercises may legally be available on the market. Access to these tools is a basic requirement for CISO executives' work, so getting access to these tools is crucial. Partnerships with such vendors ensure that CISO executives have access to such tools so that they can use them to conduct tests on the internal system to identify any system vulnerabilities.
Security experts as a knowledge resource
Security experts are an important resource for CISO executives who need to update their knowledge of the latest trends in the market. Partnerships with security experts will benefit an organization immensely, ensuring that any updates to the current systems will easily be communicated to the CISO, who can then subsequently make the required changes to update their systems. Security experts can also help in informing a company of the weaknesses of using a specific system and possible solutions to a problem. Security experts are informed people who are normally tasked with providing the security field with research and information regarding changes to the security market, and possible ways of adopting changes to the security requirements of any business. Partnerships with such a team can only help an organization in its quest for better security initiatives. These experts can also help a CISO in educating the team of experts working under them on the best way to complete their work in that current environment.
One way for experts to help the CISO is for the CISO to organize refresher courses with security experts, helping give the security team guidance on matters to do with security. Security experts are likely to know more about security aspects in the market and can offer guidance to the CISO on trends in the market, how an organization can benefit from various resources, and where to get these resources. A partnership with security experts is therefore important and ensures that CISO executives can continue to carry out their role effectively amidst a challenging environment that is filled with hackers and malicious individuals.
System security evaluation tools
CISO executives need software tools that are critical in the offering of their services. Vendors develop and sell tools that CISO executives need to carry out their normal routines. Penetration testing is an important exercise for CISO executives. With penetration testing, CISO executives hack into their systems as a means of determining weaknesses inherent in the systems. This exercise is normally done by ethical hackers who perform hacking voluntarily under the permission of the security team as a means of identifying vulnerabilities in the system and subsequently tweaking the system to correct any errors that the system has.
To perform effective penetration testing, a CISO and their team rely on specialized tools that are not readily available on the market. Partnering with such vendors and experts in the market offers a CISO a chance to access these tools easily and at affordable prices. This helps security departments keep their budgets low. Renting or subscribing to some of these tools offers cost advantages to CISO executives. However, pricing is favorable for firms that develop partnerships with these vendors. Budgeting is an important aspect of any business, and the opportunity to get tools that are necessary for business functions at competitive prices helps lower the costs of managing the business and increases profitability levels.
Creating long-term working relationships with vendors
Selecting vendors to work with is a critical part of vendor choice. In general terms, choosing a popular vendor and a market leader is often the best way to go about choosing vendors. Market leaders ensure CISOs will have proven tools that can help them in effectively carrying out their duties. On the other hand, choosing vendors based on marketing gimmicks is likely to backfire. A CISO needs to choose a vendor that can assure them that their tools can meet the demands of the organization. In this case, it is advisable for the CISO team to meet with the actual vendors and not with the sales team, who are more interested in making a sale for the commission than the actual work of the product in question. Meeting the actual team also helps the CISO to explain their organizational needs. Explaining these needs helps get the best response from vendors on whether their tools can meet the demands of the organization. It is also important to factor in the growth potential of the company in question. If an organization is expected to grow soon, a CISO must choose a vendor that has tools that can also meet its increasing demands. Consistently using the same vendors helps a CISO establish trust with vendors and establish a long-term working relationship and partnership that is mutually beneficial.
Establishing clear communication channels
The establishment of clear communication channels is an essential part of building an effective vendor relationship for CISOs. A CISO should anticipate situations where they need to urgently get hold of vendors in case of emergencies. In such cases, the CISO must have a clear system of communication with the vendor. This is not the point where the CISO is supposed to figure out how to get in touch with the vendor and stress about whether the vendor will be reachable or respond in time. Good and effective vendors have customer liaisons on their payroll that are tasked with solving emergency problems quickly. These staff members are also tasked with developing customer rapport, hence increasing customer success and loyalty. In most cases, these customer liaisons are responsible for creating strategic partnerships with clients to boost sales and retain customers in the long term. One way of obtaining customer loyalty is the ability to quickly fix a customer's problem. A CISO develops long-term strategic partnerships with vendors through these customer liaisons. The goals of the company should be clearly and transparently communicated by the CISO to the vendors. This clarity ensures that the customer liaison can make the best decisions and give the best fixes for problems that may arise during their mutual partnership.
This section explained the importance of creating a clear communication channel with vendors and other security experts. The next section will address the importance of CISOs joining customer advisory groups.
Customer advisory groups
Customer advisory groups are a great way to build long-term partnerships and relationships with vendors. Vendors often develop these customer advisory groups as a means to acquire feedback from their trusted customers on features and system updates. These groups offer vendors feedback on features they have already developed and also allow vendors to solicit suggestions from customers. These groups are an important route for a CISO to develop a long-term partnership with a vendor. The CISO can use these advisory groups to gain valuable information regarding the use of the tools from their vendor. They can also learn about challenges facing other customers and use that information to avoid those challenges or be better prepared to face them.
Cybersecurity challenges are risks that need all the information a CISO can gather from the security industry, and arming themselves with this information can only help in improving the perspectives of the CISO. Investing time in creating effective partnerships with the right vendor and having the right resources is worthwhile as this can immensely benefit an organization, in terms of both the short-term and long-term strategic plans.
This section provided insights into the important roles of CISOs that is rarely given much thought, and into how they help enhance the security initiatives in an organization. Creating partnerships with vendors and other security experts helps improve CISOs' knowledge of current trends as well as helping them get the best out of their vendors' software, hence improving the security posture of an organization.