Category: CISO

Leadership & Management Abilities

SANS MGT 514 a leap towards cybersecurity management: Security Strategic Planning, Policy, and Leadership Program

This work is merely a reference to the original SANS MGT514 course, created only based on my understanding of the course. The primary objective of this entire series is to impart information with my own words and persuade people of the efficacy of SANS courses, which are created with numerous real-life examples and well-developed labs. Remember that certain portions were left ignored in order to avoid any copywriting concerns.

The fourth day of the training focused on fundamental variations in leadership styles, the advantages of developing your leadership abilities skills, and practical advice for achieving the right balance.

It is crucial to balance the styles of leadership, management and bosses to boost self-motivation and performance among team members.

“Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.” – Stephen R. Covey

While many leaders are extremely excellent at managing, organizing, leading and understanding where to focus (the boss part) but the most effective leaders inspire and encourage others as well. To improve self-motivation and performance among team members, it is critical to balance the styles of leadership, management, and bosses.

The process of establishing leadership capability requires experience, patience, and a life-long learning from failures, so make it a habit to examine your leadership techniques on a regular basis.

• When do I perform best as a manager?
• What does the organization require me to manage effectively?
• When do I lead most effectively?
• What does my organization need of me as a leader?
• What does my employer require me to do as a boss?

Harvard Business Review – Becoming the Boss

Which Are You: Boss, Manager, or Leader?

Basics of Team Management

It is not always simple to manage a team since it requires more than just assigning duties to the team. Being in charge of a team demands a combination of interpersonal, technical, and, of course, organizational skills, and it plays an important role in fostering organizational success.

Effective Communication

The success of your team depends on effective communication. Make sure to create an atmosphere where you can give honest, straightforward feedback and team members feel comfortable raising issues. Avoid criticism, judgment, and criticizing since these drive others to get defensive and explain themselves.

Careful Listening

Good listening can foster a connection that enables manager to express his issues and get responses devoid of negative occurrence, as well as assist manager in gaining personnel insights and ideas. Many managers, on the other hand, fail to listen adequately.

Constructive feedback

Both managers and employees can learn about areas that need development via constructive feedback sessions. Employees can clearly see where they are now and where they are going as a result. When staff members offer feedback, pay attention to what they have to say and, if feasible, take action. Employees, supervisors, and the team may all perform better and develop trust via changes motivated by these sessions.

Lead by example

The most reliable tactic to let your team know what you expect of them is to demonstrate it. Your actions as the manager will have a significant impact on how your team works and communicates with one another. The only way to find out what you consider to be the perfect worker is to influence it through your activities.

Encourage Growth

Offering help and training to your team demonstrates that you appreciate their abilities and want them to stay in team. Talent management can guarantee that your employees are satisfied with their work and help you boost your company’s overall performance.

Build Working Relations Learn about your team on a personal level as well as a professional one. You will have a better grasp of your team’s thinking and interests if you get to know them. This will enable you to lead your team successfully and get the results you want.

Team Development

A team is made up of people who are driven to achieve a common vision and set of objectives. Instead of a collection of individuals, teams are made up of people who have a common bond, and these individuals rely heavily on one another to perform a task or achieve a goal. It goes beyond being merely an administrative convenience.

The following are critical components in building a winning team.

• Defined Goals
• Established Roles & Responsibilities
• Recruit team member with different skill sets
• Periodic Monitoring and Review

Career Management

Career management is a lifelong process of allocating resources to reach your long-term professional objectives. You can adjust to the shifting needs of our dynamic economy through this ongoing process. There are six crucial factors to take into account while changing professions or moving up in your career, whether you are managing your own career or the careers of your team members.

Six Cs of Job Selection

• Challenge

What new skills and knowledge will you gain in your new position?

• Chemistry

Does new environment match your preferences?

• Commitment

Are they confident in your ability to execute the tasks? Do you have the backing of upper management?

• Compensation

Compensation should be considered but also the culture.

• Contract

Review and completely understand the phrases terms

• Commute

Are you comfortable with traveling involved?

Conflict Management

Conflicts are inevitable and the process of identifying and resolving variances in an equitable and effective manner is referred to as conflict management. The objective is to reduce the possible negative consequences of conflicts and improve the likelihood of a favorable conclusion.

Disagreements at home or at work may be painful, and not all conflicts require the same resolution. When conflicts happen, choosing an appropriate resolution technique and being better prepared can help you respond constructively.

Kenneth Thomas and Ralph Kilmann identified five major conflict resolution types and suggested that most people have a preferred conflict resolution style.

• Avoiding
• Compromising
• Collaborating
• Accommodating
• Competitive

Manage Conflicts

Policy Development and Assessment

SANS MGT 514 a leap towards cybersecurity management: Security Strategic Planning, Policy, and Leadership Program

This work is merely a reference to the original SANS MGT514 course, created only based on my understanding of the course. The primary objective of this entire series is to impart information with my own words and persuade people of the efficacy of SANS courses, which are created with numerous real-life examples and well-developed labs. Remember that certain portions were left ignored in order to avoid any copywriting concerns.

On day 3, we were all compelled to reevaluate all of our prior concepts pertaining to requirement assessment, usage of appropriate language, wiring in proper structure, minimizing ambiguity, and efficiently managing the entire policy lifecycle.

Organizations use security polices as a way to maintain the confidentiality, integrity and availability of their sensitive assets. An organization’s policy defines the expectation of its senior leadership regarding how the security program, controls and processes should be managed.

There are several categories of security policies, from documents that address particular issues like identity and access management or acceptable use policy to high-level definitions of an organizational general’s security objectives. According to NIST SP 800-12 Rev. 1 “An Introduction to Information Security”, the three most frequent types of policies are program-specific, system-specific, and issue-specific.

“Companies create polices to ultimately protect themselves”.

A security policy protects enterprises not just from security threats, but also from regulatory penalties and litigation, as well as from personnel acting inappropriately. Individual’s conduct is often governed by two factors: exception and empowerment.

An exception to the security policy is something that does not follow the security policy’s established rules. This exclusion is commonly used to circumvent the constraints of a security policy in order to meet a business requirement that arose after the policy was developed. In other words, the policy was designed to meet a specific commercial need that was not reasonable at the time.

Exception Management & Managing Risk of Exception

Employee empowerment is achieved by giving them the resources, permissions, opportunities, and desire to complete their task as well as by holding them responsible for their actions.

Empower Employees for better decisions

Policy Development

Create policies with “Compliance by design” in mind. Compliance by design refers to the logical integration of regulatory requirements into routine conventional and automated activities and processes. To achieve compliance by design, policies and procedures should be created in such a manner that the intended behavior of following security best practices is ingrained in the culture of the business.

Policy lifecycle management plan, the policy lifecycle explains the steps that a policy goes through, from conception to decommission. To reduce risk, a policy administered under an information security program should be guided by a continual assessed and enhanced lifespan.

Policy Lifecycle & Stages

Remember that a policy must be effective; the following components contribute to policy effectiveness.

• Should lower the risk
• Engagement and Education
• Evaluation and Enforcement
• Review and Update

A risk assessment is also mandated by policy.

Policy development is a tedious task, if you’re just getting started, seek for policy frameworks that you can build on over time.

SANS Policy Templates

Information Security Policies, Procedures, and Standards: A Practitioner’s Reference 1st Edition

Policies are typically classified into four types.

• Governance
• Operational
• Security
• Acceptable Use

Points to be considered while writing policy

• Contents and words selection
• Voicing & Typography Preference
• Length and Format

Structure of Policy

• Overview
• Purpose
• Scope
• Policy Statement
• Version Control  
• Enforcement
• Responsible Parties

Information Security Policy Example

SMART Approach

One of the most important concerns is that most policies are not defined in a way that allows them to be executed and an efficient procedure to be constructed on their foundation. Policy should be built on the SMART framework in order to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound.