What does CISO do? CISOs' Roles and Responsibilities

CISOs ensure information security through risk management, policy development, and employee training. Learn more about CISO's responsibilities  

A CISO, or Chief Information Security Officer, is the executive responsible for managing information security and compliance programs and overseeing an organization’s overall cybersecurity posture. CISO's responsibilities include safeguarding intellectual property, sensitive data, and information assets by establishing and executing an information security program  

The modern volatile cybersecurity landscape demands from CISOs great flexibility, proficiency, and constant improvement. The 2025 cyber realities demand CISOs to navigate through a broad spectrum of responsibilities, adjusting to hybrid work, sophisticated cyber threats, tech industry shifts, and constantly evolving regulatory requirements. Hence, over two-thirds (70%) of CISOs feel their organization is at risk of a cyber attack, with 41% seeing ransomware as the leading threat. Malware (38%), email fraud (36%), cloud account compromise (34%), Insider threats (30%) and DDoS attacks (30%) round out the top five concerns.  

The above issues not only hinder security, sustainability, and compliance but also expand the list of CISO’s functions and responsibilities, keeping them awake at night. CISO’s duties vary depending on the organization’s needs and include, in general:

• developing and implementing information security plans, policies, and processes;
• ensuring compliance with regulatory, contractual, and legal requirements;
• enforcing security policies and promoting the culture of security throughout the organization;
• managing security risks;
• managing incident detection and response processes;
• supporting continuity planning or disaster recovery;
• preparing security budgets and financial forecasts;
• managing security awareness training and education programs.

So, let’s dive deeper into what CISOs do

CISOs develop and implement information security programs

An Information Security Program is a set of processes implemented to execute the organization’s strategy for addressing risks to data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. A mature Information Security Program consists of several components, including (but not limited to) information security governance and oversight, risk management, security incident monitoring, business continuity, and compliance management. CISOs are in charge of developing and implementing the information security program and its processes and ensuring everyone understands their role in safeguarding valuable information.  

Read more about the Information Security Program.

CISOs ensure compliance with regulatory, contractual, and legal requirements

Regulatory compliance is a stable background for business functioning. CISOs are responsible for ensuring compliance with regulatory, contractual, and legal requirements  

CISOs possess the industrial expertise to determine specific regulatory processes and controls. They also ensure the implementation of cloud migration, AI adoption, and risk assessment is aligned with regulatory requirements and guidelines.  

CISOs help stay updated on all relevant laws, regulations, and standards. For example, the recent PCI DSS 4.0 updates, along with the NIST 800-171 Revision 3, largely updated and modified information security controls.  

CISOs are responsible for aligning compliance priorities among departments, stakeholders, and third-party vendors. Most business operations rely on a chain of third-party vendors, often located in various countries and prioritizing different compliance requirements.  

Finally, CISOs ensure comprehensive documentation and reporting. Compliance assessment, certification readiness, security risk assessments, and other important processes require a strict algorithm and documentation. Furthermore, CISOs are the ones who will engage with regulatory bodies on security and compliance matters.  

CISOs ensure that risk assessments are performed

Security risk assessments help businesses identify the most valuable assets, detect and prioritize potential threats, and understand vulnerabilities. CISOs ensure that audits and risk assessments are performed regularly and in accordance with established guidelines and methodologies. Specifically, CISOs are responsible for performing the risk assessment, selecting a proper methodology, and performing perioding risk assessments and assessments for specific projects. CISOs also ensure the implementation of a remediation plan based on a risk assessment and track further remediation efforts.  

Learn more about how to conduct the risk assessment.  

CISOs manage incident detection and response processes

CISOs, or their delegates, are responsible for ensuring that security incidents are contained and eradicated. They also coordinate incident response measures and ensure that all relevant parties, including the information security team, IT, legal, and other key organization members, are notified and involved. 87% of CISOs agree that information protection and data governance are top priorities. Some of the 2023 CISOs’ tools in responding to data security incidents include deploying dedicated data loss prevention (DLP) technology (51%), endpoint security (49%), email security (48%), or isolation technology (42%).

CISOs support continuity planning and disaster recovery

CISOs develop long-term strategies to address security needs, including incident response, disaster recovery, and business continuity plans. Continuity planning ensures the organization can continue functioning in emergency mode until regular operations can resume. Disaster recovery planning, in turn, contains a set of policies and procedures to protect sensitive information and ensure the fastest response and recovery. Most existing cybersecurity regulations, such as the GDPR, CCPA, PCI DSS, and HIPAA, require both continuity planning and disaster recovery.  Read more about disaster recovery and continuity planning.

CISOs manage security budgets and financial forecasts

CISO's responsibilities include estimating the costs of various security initiatives, including hardware, software, personnel, and training. They prepare detailed budget proposals, justifying the need for specific expenditures to senior management and stakeholders. Finally, CISOs work closely with IT, legal, finance, and other departments to ensure comprehensive coverage of security needs. They engage with key stakeholders to align security budgets with business objectives and gain support for security investments. To deliver the most value in this environment, most (58%) plan to focus on improving information protection and enabling greater business innovation.

CISOs manage information security awareness program

CISOs are directly engaged in organizations’ security awareness programs. They develop and implement comprehensive training programs tailored to the organization's needs. The awareness program generally includes phishing prevention, password management, data protection, privacy, email security, internet security, and many other topics. CISOs ensure regular updates to the program and participation from workforce members.  

Read more about the importance of security awareness training.  

However, not every organization has a need for a full-time CISO; some organizations, largely small and medium businesses, do not usually have a need for a full-time CISO. This is because their organizational structure, technology ecosystem, and applicable regulatory and contractual obligations are typically simpler and smaller compared to larger organizations. These businesses would benefit more from virtual CISO (vCISO) - a consulting service that provides part-time or interim help in managing information security and compliance programs to businesses that lack internal resources with sufficient expertise or do not have a need for a full-time CISO.  

Of course, these are not all of the areas of responsibility of CISOs: stay tuned for more articles on CISOs’ roles and responsibilities.  

Read more about how your business may benefit from vCISO services in our article vCISO: a Solution for Small Businesses.  

Planet 9 CISO's Responsibilities

Planet 9 employs seasoned virtual CISOs with years of experience in various industries, including healthcare, e-commerce, finance, software development, manufacturing, and technology. Our experts hold senior leadership positions responsible for information security and compliance.  

Our CISOs can help organizations develop and implement (or improve existing) information security and compliance programs, handle security incidents, conduct security risk assessments and compliance evaluations, manage security teams, and perform other responsibilities.  

Feel free to contact the Planet 9 team for help with vCISO services for your business. We’ll be happy to assist!