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Chief information security officer

Find out what a chief information security officer in the Senior Civil Service does and the skills you need to do the role.

Last updated 30 November 2024 — See all updates

Contents

What a chief information security officer does

A chief information security officer creates an environment and culture in the organisation that ensures the security of its information and technology. They enable the organisation to achieve its objectives and deliver services in a safe and secure way.

The chief information security officer role is part of both the Government Digital and Data profession and the Government Security profession.

In this role, you will:

  • create a strategy for information and cyber security that supports both the organisation's strategy and wider government security strategy
  • lead the organisation in implementing the information and cyber security strategy
  • evaluate the current status and maturity of information and cyber security in the organisation
  • determine how to get to the level of information and cyber security maturity the organisation needs
  • understand risks across the organisation and advise the board and other leaders on how to mitigate risks in their areas and in future plans
  • enable the organisation to be innovative in a safe and secure way
  • ensure the organisation is prepared for cyber attacks and can detect, respond to and recover from an attack
  • ensure that information and cyber security aspects of crisis management are effective
  • encourage a culture of cyber security awareness and good security practices
  • implement practices to increase the maturity of information and cyber security

A specific chief information security officer job can vary depending on the context and challenges in your organisation.

This role is often performed at the Civil Service job grade of:

  • SCS 1 (Senior Civil Service 1)
  • SCS 2 (Senior Civil Service 2)

Skills for chief information security officer

Skill Description, including examples of leadership

Strategic cyber security planning

You can:

  • determine the right balance between the organisation's cyber and information security capabilities, acceptable level of risk and speed of technology progress
  • decide areas that need security investment
  • create a security roadmap that enables the organisation to achieve its objectives

Examples of leadership using this skill:

  • explaining the mutual benefits of the security strategy to a range of stakeholders and teams to bring them onboard
  • advising other leaders on how to integrate security requirements in their strategies
  • ensuring security is part of all the organisation's initiatives, despite competing priorities
  • gaining support for investment in security from other leaders

Cyber security governance

You can:

  • develop an effective cyber and information security governance framework that is integrated with overall organisational governance
  • prioritise issues affecting the organisation’s ability to meet security policies and follow standards
  • lead a continuous review process to ensure governance meets changing regulations, legislation and best practices
  • mitigate risks caused by unavoidable exceptions to the governance framework

Examples of leadership using this skill:

  • escalating risks to the highest level in the organisation when governance issues do not have defined owners
  • persuading others to use their financial resources for changes needed to comply with the framework
  • helping stakeholders be aware of the risks that are caused when an exception is agreed

Cyber risk management

You can:

  • maintain a clear understanding of the cyber and information security risks across the whole organisation
  • develop and implement risk assessment processes
  • oversee the assessment of the organisation's partners and supply chain for potential threats or vulnerabilities

Examples of leadership using this skill:

  • building a culture where teams have awareness of, and take responsibility for, risks and mitigating them
  • advising programme owners and people running IT services about risks in a way that enables them to act on that advice
  • communicating with senior leaders in a way that enables them to make decisions about accepting or mitigating risk

Changing security culture

You can:

  • put in place continuous cyber and information security awareness and education programs, for example, training for specific groups
  • use a range of methods to assess whether people’s security behaviour is improving
  • compare the maturity of security awareness and culture in your organisation against others across government to determine effective improvements

Examples of leadership using this skill:

  • incentivising the right behaviours across the whole organisation so that everyone knows how they contribute to security
  • persuading senior leadership to represent a campaign personally
  • communicating insights from previous incidents to ensure they are learned from

Security architecture

You can:

  • ensure the organisation’s technical architecture is appropriately resilient to cyber threats and attacks and has appropriate recovery mechanisms
  • oversee the use of processes, tools, platforms and other practices needed to effectively implement secure technical architecture
  • ensure your supply chain is managing cyber risk based on the level of risk your organisation accepts

Examples of leadership using this skill:

  • educating senior leaders on the importance of security in the development of services and products
  • deciding when exceptions to security policy and processes are allowed
  • getting support for investment to ensure appropriate security in the organisation’s supply chain

Cyber incident management

You can:

  • implement cyber incident management processes that reflect the level of risk accepted by the organisation
  • ensure the organisation is prepared for and can effectively respond to incidents
  • determine the impact of critical incidents on the organisation’s technology
  • lead the response to critical incidents that affect the whole organisation

Examples of leadership using this skill:

  • helping the incident management team build relationships with senior leaders
  • leading simulation exercises with the board so they understand their role in incident response processes and the implications of potential incidents
  • assessing what to communicate to the board, ministers or the whole organisation, and when to do it

Innovation in digital and data

You can:

  • detect and analyse early trends in technology, data or cyber security that could be important for your organisation
  • advise the organisation on the implications of new technologies and uses of data, such as ethical, security or legal implications
  • support teams to identify opportunities for innovation
  • introduce technologies and methods that address shared problems

Examples of leadership using this skill:

  • building trust and credibility with stakeholders by demonstrating the relevance of new technologies or methods to address organisational challenges
  • helping people at all levels of your organisation understand the potential benefits and risks of changes
  • persuading other leaders to support and invest in innovation

Capability building for digital and data teams

You can:

  • guide the organisation to ensure it has the technical, security or data skills it needs
  • develop organisational processes and ways of working so that digital and data roles you support can thrive
  • continuously improve and optimise the organisational environment

Examples of leadership using this skill:

  • prioritising capability needs that will have the most impact
  • negotiating for longer-term investment in people by articulating the risks and benefits of different staffing strategies
  • advocating for good practice in ways of working and supporting people to adopt this practice
  • growing digital and data communities

Roles that share chief information security officer skills

Role Shared skills
Chief data officer

Innovation in digital and data

Capability building for digital and data teams
Chief technology officer

Innovation in digital and data

Capability building for digital and data teams

Updates

Published 7 October 2024

Last updated 30 November 2024

30 November 2024

The 'cyber incident strategy and management' skill has been renamed 'cyber incident management' to better reflect the requirements of the skill description. One example of leadership using this skill was updated to reflect this change.

7 October 2024

First published.