“CISO therapy” and the real reasons security talent is so hard to find

The Catalyst by Softchoice

As a CISO, how do you know when you’re getting through to the board and the C-suite? One way is to look at the quality of the questions they ask you. Are they learning?

This is just one of the questions Kevin Magee fields a lot during “CISO therapy,” a discipline he finds himself practicing more often as Chief Security Officer at Microsoft Canada. Aside from the technology components, the thing his “clients” want to talk about most is how to build, sustain and grow those all-important executive relationships.
To conclude National Cybersecurity Awareness Month on the Catalyst, host Cheryl Stookes chats with Kevin about how CISOs can break through with boards and leadership.
He also dives into the cybersecurity skills shortage, which he names a symptom of too narrow an approach to finding candidates. Instead, he says, those seeking cybersecurity talent should look beyond the relatively small pool of technologists and consider backgrounds in psychology, criminology and law enforcement – that is, people who understand how cybercriminals think, behave and operate.
Universities and other training institutions have a part to play here, too. He discusses “reverse mentoring relationships” with younger members on the team. After all, the security leader’s job is not to be the best technical problem-solver, but to define the problem and empower others to solve it.
Featuring: Kevin Magee, Chief Security Officer, Microsoft Canada
The Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology.
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