Financial services CISOs are becoming less risk averse. Credit: Getty Images/Yuichiro Chino.

The CISO role in the financial services sector is undergoing a transformation with 81% of finance CISOs saying their appetite for risk has grown in the last five years, according to new research.

Research published today (23 September) by enterprise security company Netskope surveyed over 1,000 CISOs globally. Some 81% of CISO respondents in the financial services sector said that their role was changing rapidly, compared with 65% across all industries.

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More than three-quarters (76%) of finance CISOs want to play a more active role as a business enabler going forward, compared to an average of 67%, according to the research.

However, the majority of CISOs reported that there is a lag in the understanding of their potential among their C-suite peers with two in three CISOs (65%) feeling that other members of the C-suite fail to see that the CISO role makes innovation possible. Furthermore, 89% of finance CISOs said that conflicting risk appetites is an issue in their C-suite.

James Robinson, CISO at Netskope said: “In my experience, the best way to make CISOs more proactive partners across the C-suite is to gain deep understanding of the business challenges C-suite colleagues are focused on solving and align those to security strategies, rather than attempt to assert security strategy – or individual technology choices – on what is perceived to be C-suite risk appetite.

“Too often this alignment doesn’t occur among teams. But CISOs who are able to define the ways they are helping their C-suite peers to acquire new revenues, drive efficiencies and navigate regulatory requirements, will be recognised as valuable contributors at the highest levels.”

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CISOs cite the emerging industry trend toward zero trust principles is the way to address the issue. More than two-thirds of finance CISOs (68%) believe a zero trust approach will enable them to balance conflicting priorities better, compared with cross-sector averages of 55%. Of those, 78% believe that it will enable their organization to move faster, while 68% believe it will encourage innovation.

The report found that, going forward, CISOs are focused on creating more open and flexible organisations rather than closed and secure ones. This will include anticipating prioritising flexibility for the workforce over protection of the workforce when making productivity decisions, taking more open approaches to providing the right people with access to information, data, and tools they need. In addition, experimenting at speed is expected to become prioritised over a need to minimise risk.