CISO Trainings , Events , Infosecurity Europe Conference
CyberEdBoard Profiles in Leadership: Ian Thornton-Trump
The Cyjax CISO Discusses the Shift From Cyber Defense to Cyber Resilience
Ian Thornton-Trump, CISO at Cyjax, began his career in military intelligence at the end of the Cold War. Being flexible and having a desire for continuous learning were the qualities that shaped his career in cybersecurity, he said, and those qualities can help CISOs adapt to the rapidly changing cybersecurity landscape.
See Also: Preparing for New Cybersecurity Reporting Requirements
Cybersecurity has shifted from focusing on defense to a broader resilience mission. A resilience strategy addresses the complexities introduced by social media, which complicates leadership decisions and distorts internal messaging due to constant scrutiny and hostility. Thornton-Trump said cybersecurity leaders need to understand technological applications and their ramifications on the attack surface to prepare for emerging threats.
"Global risks are accelerating and manifesting in ways that we never thought before," he said. "When you have a climatological impact, you have impact on people - whether it manifests itself into starvation or into difficulty in accessing the supply chain. The challenge for CISOs is to look way past the horizon of what their security controls are or what their compliance posture is."
In this video interview with Information Security Media Group at Infosecurity Europe 2024, part of the CyberEdBoard's ongoing Profiles in Leadership series, Thornton-Trump also discussed:
- The need to develop strong communication skills to explain complex concepts;
- The importance of building alliances within the organization to align security measures with business processes;
- How organizations can avoid scheduling security updates during critical business periods.
At Cyjax, Thornton-Trump performs real-time analysis of immediate threats and keeps abreast of developing security threats. Previously, he served as CTO at Octopi Managed Services. His other experience includes serving with the Military Intelligence Branch of the Canadian Forces, later joining the CF Military Police Reserves and retiring as a public affairs officer in 2013. He is a member of the CyberEdBoard.
CyberEdBoard is ISMG's premier members-only community of senior-most executives and thought leaders in the fields of security, risk, privacy and IT. CyberEdBoard provides executives with a powerful, peer-driven collaborative ecosystem, private meetings and a library of resources to address complex challenges shared by thousands of CISOs and senior security leaders located in 65 different countries worldwide.
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About the Author
Anna Delaney
Director, Productions, ISMG
An experienced broadcast journalist, Delaney conducts interviews with senior cybersecurity leaders around the world. Previously, she was editor-in-chief of the website for The European Information Security Summit, or TEISS. Earlier, she worked at Levant TV and Resonance FM and served as a researcher at the BBC and ITV in their documentary and factual TV departments.
