This article is a feature by swisscybersecurity.net, published on 17.12.2024, written by Coen Kaat and yzu. You can find the original article here (in German).
In November, the Swiss Cyber Institute presented the Swiss CISO Awards for the second time. Tana Dubel, CISO at Logitech, received the award for CISO of the Year. In the final part of the interview series on the CISO Awards, Dubel explains where the golden trophy now stands, what makes a good CISO and why diversity and inclusion contribute to greater cyber security.
Where is the award trophy now? On the windowsill at home, in the office next to the monitor or well protected in a cardboard box?
Haha, it’s in my home office for now. It’s a beautiful trophy and I’m still figuring out the best place for it!
What does this award mean for you personally or for information security in general?
It’s a huge honour for me and a testament to all the amazing people I have had the privilege of working with throughout my career. I’m particularly happy that the support, efforts and dedication of the Logitech team have been recognized by the jury. Cybersecurity is a work of passion, it’s demanding and often invisible. I’m truly grateful to the Swiss Cyber Institute and EY for positively shedding light on our profession.
What characterises a good CISO?
Cybersecurity is about trust. A good CISO should embody that trust figure, establishing trust with all their partners: internally with their team, business functions, Executives and externally with customers, vendors, shareholders, authorities. Cybersecurity also covers a wide range of topics, the industry has and will continue to evolve significantly. A good CISO is a jack of all trades, someone who can quickly adapt to various situations.
Diversity and inclusion were emphasised in your laudation and in your acceptance speech. How does cybersecurity benefit from these topics?
Cybersecurity is at first a societal topic because everyone uses technologies. Cybersecurity teams should reflect the diversity in our society: diverse teams are more creative, innovative and better equipped to address evolving tactics from cyber criminals and to make technology safer for everyone.
Also, cybersecurity offers a wide range of possible roles: diverse skills, backgrounds and experiences are required to fill them. By embracing diversity, we can tap into a wider pool of potential talents, and have an opportunity to bridge the talent gap in cybersecurity.
And diversity needs inclusion. Inclusive organisations are 12 times more likely to retain employees, this is invaluable. Building inclusive cybersecurity teams, where everyone feels valued and empowered to contribute, will make them stronger and more resilient.
What do CISOs need to consider to promote diversity in their teams?
There are actionable steps that everyone can take. For example when hiring: creating job descriptions with words that can attract more diverse candidates (think gender decoders), ensuring there is a diverse pool of candidates to interview, offering opportunities to non-cybersecurity experts through internal mobility and upskilling programs.
Beyond that, we should encourage everyone to enter cybersecurity at all ages, whatever their gender, curriculum or professional experience. And we should help them persist. Simple actions like giving them access to coaching or mentoring programs, creating opportunities for them to thrive, amplifying their voices can make a big difference.
Will you go for the CISO for Diversity Award next year so that it is finally recognised?
CISOs often say “cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility”. If all CISOs are more intentional in embarking everyone on cybersecurity, then we should see many many candidates for the CISO for Diversity Award next year!
