The five key habits of top CISOs

These approaches cropped up regularly amongst those CISOs inhabiting the metaphorical equivalent of that top right corner in a Magic Quadrant (now there's an idea...)

The five key habits of top CISOs

The best performing CISOs have five main key habits says Gartner – and they don’t burying a nose deeply in a SOC and inhaling deeply.

Those overinvesting in activities such as security operations and underinvesting in stakeholder relationship building should pay heed.

A new survey of 227 CISOs, conducted between 2020 and 2023 by the Magic Quadrant magi at Gartner, emphasises anew what may be old news to some: tactical delegation is king and that the best performing CISOs establish strong relationships with "non-IT stakeholders and senior decision makers outside the context of projects” in order to best align cybersecurity with business decision making and outcomes.

See also: Dell's Chief Security Officer on physical security, frameworks, burnout and incident response

So far, so potentially obvious. But in assessing CISO effectiveness -- by ability to execute against a set of outcomes, detailed in the chart below, as shared with The StackGartner found that there were five key behaviours that cropped up regularly amongst those CISOs inhabiting the metaphorical equivalent of that top right corner in a Magic Quadrant...