What security leaders said, week 45

November 2, 2026 to November 8, 2026 · 48 entries from 28 leaders

Themes in our own words, drawn up on November 9, 2026 after the week ended from our labels and titles only, never from the posts themselves. Every person here is someone our record names as the current holder of a top security seat; role and company come from our record.

AI and agents

1 entry on AI tools, agents and their place in security programs.

November 6, 2026· Podcast appearance, Cybersecurity Headlines
David Nolan, Chief Security Officer at Trimont
On recent cybersecurity news including AI misuse, regional breaches, and IoT vulnerabilities
The Department of Know: LLM jacking, Asia rocked by Amadeus, freezers still getting hacked
Listen at Cybersecurity Headlines ↗

Careers and leadership

1 entry on security careers, new roles and leading security teams.

November 4, 2026· LinkedIn post
Gerald Beuchelt, Chief Information Security Officer at Keyfactor
On a career update in the cybersecurity industry
Read on LinkedIn ↗

Boards and governance

1 entry on how security reaches the board and how oversight is organized.

November 3, 2026· LinkedIn post
Steve Frank, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at KPMG / KPMG Americas
On an adversarial testing program leadership role
Our take
Adversarial testing programmes are a recurring topic for boards because they are among the few security activities that produce evidence a non-specialist can read. The visible text shows a director-level role leading such a programme, which raises the question of where that leadership should sit and who it answers to. In our view, the reporting line matters as much as the technical skill. A testing function that reports through the team whose controls it probes will struggle to bring unwelcome findings upward, so we favour a route that gives the board unfiltered results at least a couple of times a year. We would also push for scope set by business risk, such as the processes whose failure would hurt customers, instead of by what is convenient to test.
Read on LinkedIn ↗

Incidents and threats

1 entry on attacks, vulnerabilities and incident response.

November 3, 2026· LinkedIn post
Oded Blatman, Chief Information Officer and Chief Security Officer at Ledger
On the economics of cyberattacks in the AI era
Our take
The combined CIO and CSO at Ledger, whose appointment was announced in September 2026, came over from the same dual role at Fireblocks. The opening of the post frames AI as a shift in the cost of mounting an attack, where the old constraint was how many skilled operators an adversary could afford to hire. We think the cost framing is the useful one, because it moves the question from whether a technique exists to how cheaply it can be repeated. A defence that was acceptable because it priced out all but well-funded crews deserves a fresh look once volume and speed stop being scarce. We would revisit assumptions about low-value targets, since cheap attacks make them worth the effort. We would also stress-test detection and response at higher volume rather than only at higher sophistication, and measure how much each control costs an attacker to bypass, not whether it can be bypassed.
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Other subjects

20 entries on other subjects in security leadership.

November 7, 2026· LinkedIn post
Diana Kelley, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Noma Security
On a security leadership topic
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 6, 2026· X post · @secengjeff
Jeff Lyon, Chief Information Security Officer at Remitly
On a news article shared without additional context
Read on X ↗
November 6, 2026· LinkedIn post
Leslie Nielsen, Chief Information Security Officer at Mimecast
On employee behavior as a factor in security incidents
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 6, 2026· LinkedIn post
Eric Freeman, Chief Information Security Officer at WRITER
On sandbox and lab providers in security training
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November 6, 2026· LinkedIn post
Ann Barron-DiCamillo, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Information Security Officer at U.S. Bank
On cybersecurity in the financial services sector
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November 5, 2026· LinkedIn post
Leslie Nielsen, Chief Information Security Officer at Mimecast
On CISO priorities for incident disclosure versus click metrics
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November 5, 2026· LinkedIn post
Diana Kelley, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Noma Security
On conference speaking opportunities
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November 5, 2026· LinkedIn post
Diana Kelley, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Noma Security
On a security leadership topic
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 4, 2026· Podcast appearance, CyberWire Daily
Heather Ceylan, Chief Information Security Officer at Box
On election security, automation, and public reaction in cyberspace
Ballots, bots, and backlash.
Listen at CyberWire Daily ↗
November 4, 2026· LinkedIn post
Eric Freeman, Chief Information Security Officer at WRITER
On inclusivity dynamics in cybersecurity threat actor behavior
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November 4, 2026· LinkedIn post
Diana Kelley, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Noma Security
On school AI policy choices prompted by new Google rules
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November 3, 2026· LinkedIn post
John Bruce, Chief Information Security Officer at Quorum Cyber
On the NCSC Annual Review
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November 3, 2026· LinkedIn post
Jason Scott, Chief Information Security Officer at Sectigo
On a CISO networking event in cybersecurity
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November 3, 2026· LinkedIn post
Diana Kelley, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Noma Security
On a company's public apology following employee-related controversy
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 3, 2026· LinkedIn post
Diana Kelley, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Noma Security
On corporate acquisition agreements
Our take
The CISO of Noma Security, in the seat since August 2025, previously held the same role at Protect AI. The opening of the post sets two threads side by side: a vendor's agreements to buy a pair of AI security companies, and its announcement of a control meant to halt AI systems on demand. Consolidation like this matters to buyers as much as to sellers. Any tool in an AI security stack may soon sit under a new owner, so contracts should cover change of control, data handling after a deal and roadmap commitments. A stop mechanism for AI agents is a sound idea, but it only works if the organisation has already decided who may pull it, which workloads it covers and what happens to dependent processes when it is used. We would treat it as an incident-response question first and a product feature second, and rehearse it before relying on it.
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 2, 2026· LinkedIn post
Troy Rydman, Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at Packsize
On a security leadership topic
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 2, 2026· LinkedIn post
Dale Drew, Chief Information Security Officer at Vantage
On a CISO leadership topic
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November 2, 2026· LinkedIn post
Natalia Oropeza, Global Chief Cybersecurity Officer at Siemens
On zero trust cybersecurity
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November 2, 2026· LinkedIn post
Mandy Andress, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Elastic
On challenges in security leadership
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November 2, 2026· LinkedIn post
Brian Harrell, Vice President and Chief Security Officer at FirstEnergy
On the Marine Corps birthday and seasonal tradition
Our take
The Vice President and Chief Security Officer at FirstEnergy, in the seat since an April 2026 announcement, arrived from the same title at Avangrid. The opening of the post is a seasonal reflection: military tradition, autumn weather, a holiday and an election all marked as a favourite time of year. A light note like this is a reminder that the calendar shapes security work as much as the threat feed does. For leaders in critical infrastructure, the weeks around an election and a major holiday are predictable pressure points, with thinner staffing, heightened attention to disruption, and adversaries who know our rhythms. We would treat that stretch as a planning cycle of its own: confirm on-call coverage, rehearse the escalation paths, and agree with operations and communications who speaks if something breaks.
Read on LinkedIn ↗

Also this week

24 entries added to the record after these themes were drawn up.

November 8, 2026· LinkedIn post
Mandy Andress, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Elastic
On encouraging interest in STEM fields
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 7, 2026· LinkedIn post
Gerald Beuchelt, Chief Information Security Officer at Keyfactor
On cybersecurity patch and vulnerability management
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 7, 2026· LinkedIn post
David Soto, Chief Information Security Officer at Trellix
On data security, AI, and cyber resilience
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 7, 2026· X post · @alexstamos
Alex Stamos, Chief Information Security Officer at Cognition
On Cybersecurity Awareness Month discussion
Our take
Awareness Month comes around every October, and security leaders in any seat get pulled into it, whether as guest, host or the person asked to supply the calendar of activities. The opening of this post shows only a thanks for a recorded conversation on the month itself, so that is the subject we take up. Our view is that the month is most useful when it is treated as a hook rather than a programme: one concentrated window to ask for executive airtime, fresh attention on reporting channels, and a chance to test whether staff know where to send a suspicious message. The risk is that it becomes a themed-poster exercise that proves activity without changing behaviour. We would pick one or two behaviours that matter for the business, measure them before and after, and keep the effort running well past the end of October.
Read on X ↗
November 6, 2026· LinkedIn post
Alfredo Hickman, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Kai
On the Texas Cyber Command and San Antonio's cybersecurity role
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 6, 2026· LinkedIn post
Alex Holden, Chief Information Security Officer at Hold Security, LLC
On incident response and why organizations repeat past mistakes
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November 6, 2026· LinkedIn post
Mike Farrow, Chief Information Security Officer at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
On an interim role transitioning to a permanent position
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 5, 2026· LinkedIn post
Shane Barney, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Keeper Security
On sales job opportunities at a cybersecurity company
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 5, 2026· LinkedIn post
David Soto, Chief Information Security Officer at Trellix
On agentic AI considerations for CISOs
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 5, 2026· LinkedIn post
Rinki Sethi, Chief Security Officer (CSO) at Upwind
On Diwali celebrations within community and culture
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 5, 2026· LinkedIn post
Sean Cassidy, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Plaid
On Plaid's personal finance offering
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November 5, 2026· LinkedIn post
Eric Freeman, Chief Information Security Officer at WRITER
On recurring software bugs and their prevention
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November 5, 2026· LinkedIn post
David Raymond, Associate Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Virginia Tech
On an Amazon partnership advancing AI and cybersecurity
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November 5, 2026· LinkedIn post
Gerald Beuchelt, Chief Information Security Officer at Keyfactor
On vulnerability management in Linux cybersecurity
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November 5, 2026· LinkedIn post
Jason Scott, Chief Information Security Officer at Sectigo
On a security leadership topic
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November 5, 2026· LinkedIn post
Michael Adams, Group Vice President (GVP) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Docusign
On the CarolinaCISO Advisory Board
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November 5, 2026· LinkedIn post
Assaf Keren, Chief Information Security Officer at Meta
On product team culture and celebrating milestones
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November 5, 2026· X post · @alexstamos
Alex Stamos, Chief Information Security Officer at Cognition
On AI agent swarms and evaluation environments
Read on X ↗
November 4, 2026· LinkedIn post
Mandy Andress, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Elastic
On incidents and threats
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 4, 2026· LinkedIn post
David Soto, Chief Information Security Officer at Trellix
On the changing speed of cyber threats
Our take
The CISO of Trellix, in the seat since August 2026, arrived from a role leading infrastructure security at Amazon. The opening of the post points to a new threat report and to the idea that the tempo of attacks is shifting. Speed is the right lens, though it is easy to treat as a headline rather than a design constraint. If the interval between a weakness surfacing and its abuse keeps narrowing, quarterly patch cycles and ticket-driven triage become the programme's weakest assumptions, and the useful question is which decisions still require a human in the loop. We would pair any such report with an honest look at our own detection and containment times, because an industry trend only matters once it is set against what our teams actually achieve on a bad night.
Read on LinkedIn ↗
November 4, 2026· LinkedIn post
Gerald Beuchelt, Chief Information Security Officer at Keyfactor
On third-party cybersecurity risk and data breach prevention
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November 4, 2026· LinkedIn post
Leslie Nielsen, Chief Information Security Officer at Mimecast
On lessons learned from serving as CISO across multiple companies
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November 4, 2026· LinkedIn post
Gerald Beuchelt, Chief Information Security Officer at Keyfactor
On cybersecurity and AI guidance from NCSC
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November 3, 2026· LinkedIn post
Gerald Beuchelt, Chief Information Security Officer at Keyfactor
On cybersecurity, supply chain security, and AI security
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