Houston CISO Community
Executive Summit

Join us for an informal evening of networking, dinner and drinks! This is a private reception hosted by and for members of the Houston CISO Governing Body, as well as peers, supporting partners and speakers the evening before our full-day CISO Executive Summit. 

New, special demands constantly arise for decision-makers who steer the fortunes of companies. Recently, business success has become linked to IT infrastructure. Seamless and secure connectivity is the key to unlocking innovation and accelerating business outcomes. To reach this state, enterprises are transforming their networks and security to a zero trust architecture augmented by AI/ML capabilities, thereby reducing risk, eliminating cost and complexity and increasing agility.

Join this session and learn:

• How zero trust architecture secures users, workloads, IoT/OT devices, and your business partners by addressing critical security shortcomings of legacy network architecture
• How to reduce network complexity without exposing your organization to new risks
• How AI/ML adds defensive and business analytics capabilities that have the power to turn IT into the engine propelling business success forward

With an average of 75 security products utilized by organizations, the need for consolidation is evident. Having multiple security products translates to higher costs, operational complexity, and intra-organizational friction. CISOs today must strive to maximize value with ubiquitous and powerful security that is centralized and simple to use.

Learn from Tanya Shastri, SVP of Product Management at Palo Alto Networks who will share valuable insights and best practices for enabling cyber-transformation including:

• Streamlining your security portfolio through a unified Network Security approach, including SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) from a single vendor

• Embracing a threat-informed approach to security that ensures your defenses align with evolving threats

• Enhancing efficiencies, reducing complexity, and addressing critical vulnerabilities with the latest advancements in Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) 2.0

The fast-paced and increasingly complex nature of the today’s enterprise security landscape has many in the field asking big questions about the future of the CISO role: Will CISOs ever have achieve true “C-suite status”? How can security move out from under IT – and should it? Can CISOs remain productive under the current level of pressure for the next 5, 10, or even 20 years?

In this session a panel of Houston security leaders gather to see if there are any answers to these questions and more as they discuss:

• The longevity (and limitations) of the CISO role in its current form
• The shifting responsibilities of the CISO over the next five to ten years
• The importance (or lack thereof) of having a clear roadmap for the CISO

Privileged accounts are the holy grail for many perpetrators. And while many of these users are likely among your most sophisticated team members when it comes to security awareness, nothing can make them totally invulnerable. How do you balance providing just enough protection for these users without impacting their productivity?

Join this peer roundtable to share your experience and discuss:

• Implementing least privilege policies
• Moving beyond traditional PAM controls to more sophisticated ones like just-in-time privilege approaches
• Architecting resiliency for your PAM solutions

Connect with like-minded peers in a one-on-one setting through Evanta’s Peer-to-Peer Meetings. You will be matched with peers in your community based on your shared interests and priorities.

CISOs are facing an important task as they navigate the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) recently adopted rule amendments designed to improve the disclosure of cybersecurity risk management, strategy, governance, and incidents by public companies. Questions are surfacing with the date of enforcement on the horizon.

Join this session to hear from a representative from the SEC to discuss:

• Defining and assessing materiality of an incident, and the timeline for incident disclosure
• Disclosing processes for assessing, identifying and managing material risks from cybersecurity threats
• Describing the board and management’s roles in overseeing cybersecurity risks

What are the metrics that really measure success for a security program? What data tells the most compelling security story across the organization? 

Join this peer-led executive roundtable session to share your own experiences and discuss:

• What metrics for measuring and communicating risk are resonating with leadership/the board
• How peers are adjusting and fine-tuning their own approaches for reporting up on risk
• Tool recommendations for gathering and generating meaningful metrics for your security program

Cybercrime is now a thriving industry, equivalent to the world's third-largest economy – after the U.S. and China – according to the World Economic Forum. Ransomware-as-a-service, attack toolkits, and tutorials are easily purchased if you know where to look, and information about exploits and vulnerabilities are regularly shared in forums across the deep and dark web. To truly gain the edge in the cyber arms race, security leaders must escape the siloes of their own organizations and industries and find ways to (securely) out-collaborate their adversaries. 

Join this peer-led roundtable conversation to:

• Acknowledge and address challenges that make collaboration and cooperation difficult within cybersecurity
• Share experiences from previous information-sharing partnerships (public/private, industry coalitions, etc.)
• Discuss avenues to to promote greater collaboration across the security industry

With security becoming an ever more important factor in the business success and growth of organizations, CISOs must create collaboration amongst stakeholders and position cybersecurity to maximize its impact on the business.

In this engaging keynote session, a panel of Houston security leaders will speak candidly about how they’ve found success building and leveraging relationships across the business to get things done, including:

• Best practices for effective developing high-priority partnerships outside security and IT
• Selling and executing strategic initiatives that drive growth
• Navigating the road of “influencer” — leadership lessons