CISOs reshape their roles as business risk strategists

CISOs (chief information security officers, the top security leaders at companies) are expanding their roles beyond traditional cybersecurity to become broader business risk strategists who manage strategic, operational, and financial risks across their entire organizations. This shift reflects the fact that nearly all business operations are now digital, making any cyber risk a material business risk, and has accelerated since the rise of generative AI (AI systems like ChatGPT that can create new content) and agentic AI (AI systems that can take independent actions). Research shows that most CISOs now share responsibility for enterprise risk management with other executives and are expected to unify regulatory requirements, company risk tolerance, and security controls into a single operating model.