What is a field CISO? The vendor's customer-facing security advisor, defined

A field CISO is a security executive employed by a technology or services vendor to advise its customers on security strategy. The role faces outward, toward other organizations' security leaders, and does not run the vendor's own internal security program or answer for it. Despite the title, a field CISO does not hold the CISO seat at any company.

How vendors describe the role

In the vendors' own documents cited here, the field CISO sits inside a security or advisory organization, under someone else's authority. monday.com's annual report on Form 20-F for 2023, filed on 14 March 2024, says its security efforts are guided by its vice president and chief information and security officer, with global teams in six domains, one of which is field CISO. The field CISO there is a function within the program, not the person accountable for it.

A services firm's own announcement shows the customer-facing side. When Presidio named a field CISO for the public sector on 17 November 2021, it said he would lead cybersecurity advisory for public sector clients, advising state and local agencies and educational institutions. The appointee had held CISO roles before, including for the state of Michigan.

Why the distinction matters

The CISO seat carries obligations a field CISO does not. New York's Part 500 defines the CISO as the qualified individual responsible for overseeing and implementing a covered firm's cybersecurity program and enforcing its policy. The SEC's Regulation S-K Item 106 asks a public company which management positions are responsible for assessing and managing its own cybersecurity risk. A field CISO fits neither description for the employer, and fits neither for the customers advised.

For anyone tracking who runs security, the title is a source of error. A headline about a new CISO can describe a field role at a vendor, and a profile can list a field CISO job as if it were the seat. Reading the employer, the reporting line and the mandate settles it.

How CISO Tribune records it

The Wire records appointments and departures in the top security seat only. Its editorial gate rejects field CISO titles, as it does deputy, assistant, associate, acting and interim ones. A field CISO appears on the record only on taking an operating seat. For the operating role itself, see What does a CISO do?; vendor pages are under vendors.

Related terms

• Chief information security officer (CISO)
• Virtual CISO (vCISO)
• Deputy CISO