Analysis agency Gartner lists resiliency as considered one of three key themes for CISOs in 2026, noting that “cyber resilience goes properly past IT restoration plans — it consists of authorized, public relations, market disclosures, and provider readiness. It’s about full, end-to-end coordination and readiness throughout departments.”
Aaron McCray, discipline CISO for expertise options and companies firm CDW, says extra CISOs are centered on resiliency as security leaders work to align with enterprise technique and see security as a enterprise enabler.
“CISOs are how they will get better from operational occasions, not simply cyber occasions, they’re the way to retain capabilities throughout crises and the way to restore capabilities in real-time,” McCray provides.
Grappling with geopolitical threat
CISOs in 2026 are paying extra consideration to geopolitical dangers, says Betsy Soehren Jones, a companion at expertise consulting agency West Monroe.
There’s good motive for the heightened curiosity in worldwide affairs, as world occasions can spur these nation-states already engaged in cyberattacks to ramp up their actions, Soehren Jones explains. International occasions can even disrupt provide chains and sources, together with offshore staff and software program companies, she provides, which may have implications for CISOs and their groups.
Soehren Jones, who previously labored as director of security technique at an vitality firm, advises CISOs to hitch intelligence communities, akin to business ISACs, in addition to to evaluate White Home government orders, federal directives, and comparable materials to glean info on rising geopolitical dangers and threats.
She additionally advises CISOs to work with their firm’s federal affairs workplace, if their firm has one, to higher perceive and put together for the worldwide points that concern the corporate. CISOs must also work with commerce associations and observe the US Chamber of Commerce to remain abreast of geopolitical dangers, she provides.
PwC’s 2026 International Digital Belief Insights discovered that 60% of the three,887 enterprise and tech executives throughout 72 international locations surveyed for the research ranked cyber threat funding of their prime three strategic priorities in response to ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.
