Why Does Your Business In UAE Need a CISO? What They Do

Companies with huge information assets face hundreds of threats, and even if one or a few of these threats turn into a reality, the consequences are wide. From penalties and loss of reputation to a decline in client accounts, a company gets stuck in several messes for quite some time. A Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is a professional who takes up the responsibility of preventing such incidents from happening. For Chief Information Security Officer recruitment, you need CISO executive search specialists with expertise in identifying candidates who can justify the position-based requirements in an excellent manner. This blog helps you understand what goes into making CISO recruitment successful.

Introduction

The UAE is a preferred business destination for companies from around the world. From North Americas to Asia-Pacific, hundreds of companies have operations in the UAE, and particularly in Dubai, one of the most popular and sought-after business destinations.

Companies here seek top management professionals with knowledge of managing the financial, legal, regulatory and operational aspects that are relevant to successful functioning in the emirates. The same expectations apply to the role of a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).

A CISO ensures a company’s information assets and technologies are optimally protected by directing the framework and implementation of relevant policies, procedures, measures and control systems.

There is no denial that Information security has become a top priority for every business, especially those that store, manage, send and receive huge amounts of data every day. The need for CISOs are, therefore, on an increasing trend in the last decade, and consequently, the need for CISO recruiters too.

More than a decade ago, only big companies were hiring a CISO, such as listed companies, multinational entities with 5,000-10,000 employees serving millions across the globe, huge retailers, healthcare sector organizations with daily terabytes of patient data, etc. The CISO recruitment practices were different, and many CISOs reported to the head of technology or a CIO.

Recently, even mid-sized companies have CISOs, as operational models are mostly digitalized, and information security concerns increase. The CISO roles have also undergone a transformation, with many CISOs now reporting directly to the CEO or the board of directors.

Are you wondering whether your company in the UAE needs a chief executive officer recruitment? Are you in the process of considering CISO recruitment but delaying the decision-making as you are unsure about the processes or in assessing the need? Here are some tips.

When To Hire a CISO for Your Company in the UAE

Here are some pointers to help you understand if your company is in need of a CISO.

1. Your Organizational Data Is Increasing To An Extent That You Need To Quantify and Manage Security Risks

If you have terabytes of data being exchanged, stored, and processed every day or week, and data loss or leak could lead to business reputation loss and other severe negative consequences, you need a professional to quantify and manage data security risk incident identification, prevention and response.

Hiring a CISO will ensure that your data and information is managed in the most secure and compliant manner with checks, access control systems and data security measures to prevent cyber-attacks and data stealing. You might not need a permanent CISO. In such a case, you could hire a virtual CISO or a CISO consultant.

2. You Need To Identify and Manage Threats To Huge Amounts of Confidential Client and Personal Data

The foundation of every business is trust when the customers or clients feel secure in their interactions and transactions with your company. If cyber security attacks and data theft happens and the news leaks out, you will immediately lose the trust of customers. Also, from GDPR to UAE-based regulations, there are severe consequences to theft and breach of personal data.

Hiring a CISO with experience in establishing appropriate standards and controls and protecting proprietary information and assets of the company, including the data of clients and consumers, gets you out of most potential data security troubles.

3. Your Organizational Data Storage is Scattered, Unstructured, And Vulnerable to Theft

When your UAE business is expanding, and you start opening offices in several locations within the emirates and overseas, your company might suddenly find itself in a situation where you no longer have any measures to even know how much data is coming in and how securely it is being stored.

Hundreds of employees are receiving data via emails, chatbots, business social media apps every day, and the measures to control theft and leak are weak.

It is wiser to hire an interim CISO or a employment agencies in Dubai to strategize, plan, and invest in the right technologies and systems and implement data architecture and governance measures and protocols to strengthen data protection. When the need for a permanent position arises, you could then choose to appoint a CISO in a permanent role.

4. When Your Company Has Already Detected Severe Lapses to On- and off-premise data security

If your company is dealing with a huge flow of inbound and outbound data on- and off-premises, you would need more than an IT department to manage information privacy, security, access management, and risk management.

An IT team can implement, manage, supervise, and maintain IT systems and that in itself is a huge endeavor. The IT department might already have alerted you about lapses in secure information management and data privacy, but you need an expert like an experienced CISO to find solutions.

A CISO recruitment agency could help you assess the effectiveness of hiring a Chief Information Security Officer through assessments and analysis.

5. If Millions of Dollars Are Resting on The Way You Manage Data

Having an expert CISO will definitely go a long way in saving you from troubles that put millions of dollars at risk. It is better to consider CISO recruitment through an agency offering CISO executive search or CISO recruiter services so that you make a well-informed hiring decision.

What Do CISOs Do – Key Points

In 2020, the UAE had a 250 percent rise in cyber-attack vulnerabilities compared to the previous year. There are reports from international authorities about the alarmingly increasing rate of cyber attack attempts and occurrences within the UAE and in many other countries.

If you are considering CISO recruitment, delaying does not really help. Here are some points to help you understand the various duties and responsibilities of a CISO. With the help of CISO executive search experts or CISO recruiters, you could easily find the best CISO for your company.

1. Preparing Data and Information Security Framework

The very first job of CISO involves building the data assets and security assets that help businesses avoid cyber attacks.

A CISO offers strategic advice in the development and implementation of a thorough information security framework. The approach will take into account the management of the inbound, outbound and stored data in a manner that reduces chances of risks to data privacy, confidentiality, and access control.

2. Controlling and Minimizing Data Loss and Theft

A CISO has experience in studying a company’s data and information architecture, data flow and transfer and exchange and sources of structured, unstructured and semi-structured data.

The CISO then identifies all possibilities of data loss and theft and prepares a framework and action plan to address such incidents. The expert will also help companies choose the right technology systems and measures to control, identify and prevent data loss and theft incidents.

3. Overall Cybersecurity Management

When tetrabytes of data are vulnerable to cyber attacks growing in sophistication and numbers, you need an expert CISO to frame the most invasive cybersecurity management frameworks. Frameworks that allow not only quick detection of threats at the most vulnerable points but also automate incident notification and alerts.

With the right model of Chief Information Security Officer recruitment, you will have more options to choose from with regard to compensation.

4. Framing Right and Cost-Effective Practices for Information Management Technology Investment and Upgrades

There are so many companies who invested a hundred thousand dollars in information management technologies only to find them not the best-suited for their internal systems and process management. Poor information management technology investments also slow down operational efficiency and lead to poor customer service.

You could partner with an agency offering Chief Information Security Officer recruitment to get detailed information about what CISO backgrounds are best-match for your company’s information architecture.

5. Compliance Management

The CISO must guarantee that their company is flexible enough to respond to changing compliance regulations. This is particularly important for UAE businesses with global operations.

There are numerous measures and regulations to comply with in different countries for the protection of different kinds of data – financial, personal, health, etc. Having a CISO to guide you and implement best practices helps your company to smoothly glide through difficult compliance requirements.

6. Online and Offline Data Governance and Regular Checks / Testing

Implementing practices and protocols for proper inspection and testing are part of a CISO’s job. The CISO organizes online and offline data governance and secured data management and storage checkups.

CISO recruiters will give you accurate details about everything that could be achieved by hiring the right CISO. You could get an assessment done to find out what hiring model would best suit your organization.

7. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

A number of companies understand disaster recovery to be connected with loss of information and operational capacities due to power outages and natural calamities.

Disaster recovery management, however, is much more complex. It requires a structured tiering model that can improve the planning and success of an IT disaster recovery management strategy, as per industry experts. Business continuity management can be effective only when it is based on an organization’s unique needs.

Hiring a CISO helps you identify and implement the right strategies and practices for disaster recovery and business continuity.

8. Coordination and Training for Data Management Improvements

Lastly, the role of CISO also includes making employees aware of the company’s security standards and how it affects their functions. For this, CISO organizes training and seminars or webinars.

Alliance Recruitment Agency UAE

Alliance Recruitment Agency is a global manpower agency offering recruitment and employment services. We have specialized executive search teams for different industries and domains.

Our CISO executive search consultants are always ready to listen to what organizations need and identify the type of leader they need to optimize secured information storage, transfer, processing, and overall management. They also help decide what CISO recruitment model would best suit your company.

If you are considering hiring a CISO and need more information, please get in touch with us. We offer a free consultation.