Cybersecurity Glossary: Security officer (CISO)

Information system security officers establish and enforce security policies to protect an organization’s computer infrastructure, networks and data. They play a vital role in protecting an organization, because an information security breach can result in disruption to the business, loss of confidential or commercially sensitive data, and financial loss.

The chief information security officer (CISO) is the executive responsible for an organization’s information and data security. While in the past the role has been rather narrowly defined along those lines, these days the title is often used interchangeably with chief security officer (CSO) and VP of security, indicating a more expansive role in the organization.

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