External Threats Top List of CISO Concerns

CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers) face a number of challenges, according to a new IBM study. From a high-level perspective, the respondents told IBM that they were concerned about external threats, with 69 percent rating it their number one or number two challenge.

“This was more than internal threats, more than incorporating new technologies, and more that regulation and compliance issues,” David Jarvis, author of the report and senior consultant at the IBM Center for Applied Insights, told InternetNews.com. “I think that, at the moment, the gaze of security and business leaders is outward with all of the high profile breaches and security incidents.”

From a technology standpoint, key CISO challenges are about securing mobile technologies, whether BYOD of company-provided. Jarvis noted that more than half of respondents cited that as their primary technology concern over the next two years, more than cloud and more than database security.

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eSecurity Planet and InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network. Follow him on Twitter: @TechJournalist.