So much of the news related to CISOs today is negative. The reasons are clear because the challenges are enormous. Many CISO’s believe they are not given a fair chance – essentially obstructed from doing their job. Often there can be poor trust with the board, primarily due to not having a pragmatic, cost effective plan, to solve board level problems. CISOs have failed largely in this regard as their security plans have been tactical and not delivering on strategic goals. The common argument is executives just don’t ‘get it’, but most do, and they realize that security doesn’t provide great value with historic or conventional approaches. They might say the business only wants check-box security, but executives understand that to a great degree that is the only material benefit offered by security – so may as well get it at best cost. This talk will explore where and why things have happened the way they have, and how to move towards a definition for the CISO of 2025.