CISO Essentials: The Top 5 Tools You Can’t-Miss

The cost of cybercrime is expected to soar by 15% every year, reaching a whopping $10.5 trillion annually by 2025. The real concern now isn’t if a cyberattack will happen but when it will strike.

So, how can you protect your organization from this looming threat as a CISO (Chief Information Security Officer)?

The key is deploying the most effective cybersecurity tools available.

Yet, managing the risk of a breach is no small task—whether you’re new to the role or a seasoned pro updating your superiors. 

To help you overcome this challenge, we’ve compiled a list of the top 5 CISO tools that can empower you to face the future confidently. 

Why does a CISO need good software?

A CISO is a senior-level executive responsible for developing and implementing security measures to protect data assets. Internally, their primary focus is safeguarding the business and championing security-first initiatives. Externally, their role involves showcasing trust in the business or product. Their main responsibility is to proactively prevent and minimize risks across all levels, ensuring that business objectives are achieved punctually and with minimal disruption.

However, CISOs rely on a strong and updated tech stack to implement internal and external measures. 

Also, they must assess the associated costs of mitigation to align efforts with budget allocations.

Typically, information security programs concentrate on setting security requirements, regulatory requirements, remediation tasks, and enforcing policies through compliance assessments, reviews, and tests after production. Now, let’s focus on the usual virtual CISO tools they like to have in their arsenal.

5 Best CISO Tools

As you already know, a CISO’s responsibilities include a high-level implementation and development of security policies to safeguard critical data.

And for this to work, you need the best tools to play it safe. 

Here are the top 5 picks we chose that every vCISO needs to have in their arsenal!

1. A vulnerability assessment tool 

A vulnerability assessment checks an information system for security weaknesses in a structured way. It examines whether the system could be at risk from known vulnerabilities, rates how serious these are, and suggests ways to fix or lessen them.

Here are the 10 vulnerability scanning tools you can explore:

There are different kinds of vulnerability assessments:

• Host assessment: This looks at critical servers that might be open to attacks if not tested properly or created from a secure machine image
• Network and wireless assessment: This checks policies and practices to stop unauthorized access to networks and resources
• Database assessment: This reviews databases or big data systems for vulnerabilities and mistakes, finds insecure environments, and sorts sensitive data
• Application scans: These identify security issues in web applications and their source code through powerful automation scans or code analysis

Why it’s important for CISOs:

• Constant monitoring: As a CISO, you need to have surveillance on minor risks because new ones emerge around the clock
• Focus on important issues: It is designed to help you focus on the greatest security issues that require the most attention
• Smart choices: You calculate the cost of repairing defects and installing new safeguards to control cyber risks
• Tradeoff: This tool facilitates this, balancing the investment level for security measures and reducing risks

2. Security compliance automation tools

Security compliance automation tools play a crucial role in helping a CISO ensure companies follow security standards and regulations. 

Examples of such regulations include GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO 27001. 

Here are our picks for the top compliance automation tools:

This is where Sprinto stands out as a leading security compliance automation platform, specifically designed for fast-growing tech companies that aim for quick and successful compliance. 

The interesting features you can look forward to are the ready-to-use security programs, continuous monitoring, and automated evidence collection. This way, Sprinto identifies risks, safeguards sensitive data, and prevents security breaches you may have never foreseen. 

It offers reporting and auditing features, helping your company to demonstrate compliance and avoid fines.

3. Email security tools 

Email is often where many cyberattacks begin, such as a phishing attack or a malware application. This is when an otherwise unfamiliar intern can receive a pretty much trustable e-mail and see that he or she won the lottery.

If you want to explore some options, here are some top email security CISO tools:

We can surely say that your CISO responsibilities extend even further than simply checking what the interns do with their spare time. Hence, this is why having good email protection software proves helpful.

Now, why should these tools be in a CISO’s toolkit?

You need it because it reduces the chances of data leakages and financial losses caused by email fraud. They also increase the respect and confidence of companies among customers, partners, and employees in addressing email security issues.

4. Penetration Testing Tools 

Penetration testers are ethical hackers who attack client networks or security systems – what is more, they penetrate the target to detect vulnerabilities. This is aimed at giving knowledge of the location and mode in which a malicious attacker can lead significant unforeseen assaults on the network so that clients fix any weaknesses before an actual strike.

So, here are our picks for the top penetration testing tools.

You may be wondering why you require such pentest tool in your arsenal.

Such CISO tools make potential customers know that you as a company, are sure about their data security and have found ways of dealing with cases of data breaches. It is one of the ways to gain the credibility of clients.

In the end, clients want to see: 

1. That you’ve done a recent penetration test and 
2. That you’ve taken action based on the results

What’s considered recent? At least once in the past year.

5. Firewall Tools

According to a Palo Alto Networks report from 2020, firewalls, both hardware appliances and software-based ones, continue to be the main defense applied by enterprises to protect their computing systems.

Types of Firewall security include hardware-based, software-based, virtual firewalls or those deployed on the cloud. Many organizations tend to combine a variety of measures towards goal preservation and the highest level of network security.

Suffice to note that simply one compromised unit can obliterate whole systems, from the perspective of which such activities by companies with numerous personal user data are all too hurtful.

How does firewall security work?

Data packets from traffic are checked against a set of rules determined by the network administrator, and firewalls only allow data permitted according to those preset rules.

The more advanced firewall hardware equipment takes one step further in enforcing this advanced security policy.

These policies helped in finding possible malware, zero-day security threats, brute force attacks, unauthorized access, and many other security threats.

So here are our top picks for firewall tools you can deploy:

• Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
• Cisco Firepower Management Center
• Bitdefender BOX
• Huawei firewall
• Cyberoam Firewall
• Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
• Sophos Firewall

How do you select the right CISO tools?

Choosing the right CISO tools involves considering factors like the organization’s size, the complexity of its infrastructure, the types of applications used, the volume of alerts generated, and the available security staff.

That’s why, in this section, we’ve listed the practices that lend themselves to help you pick the right cybersecurity tools.

1. Identify business risks 

Your company might have its own set of potential risks, like the costs of a breach and worries about rules, potential cyber threats, and reputation. 

So, get cybersecurity security tools that fit what you need most.

To do this, team up with other departments to gather information about your organization’s tools and determine how they are used.

2. Identify the tool’s purpose

Next, what it does and fills out needs to be determined for the selection of the appropriate tool. This includes filling up gaps, responding to shortcomings or in other cases changing from an outdated system or scaling due to market demands.

After defining the purpose, attention is diverted to details of setting up KPIs and confirmation by appropriate means that ROI is obtained.

3. Investigate the potential vendors

Analyze carefully what the provider has on the market. Are these providers one size fits all solutions, or are they always sensitive to your company’s needs? We’ve done some of our recommendations first hand, but make sure you do your own research as well.

4. Engage your security team in the decision-making process

Because the end-users of the service you are proposing would be your team members, their commitment (buy-in) is essential. Discuss with them critical elements or components that you would like to be included in the services provided by this vendor. A first step is to analyze what’s working and what needs changing within the current framework.

Now that you have a clear idea of what you require, it is time to go forward with creating a scoring system for evaluating every vendor. The requirements, priorities, and features should be among the things that need to be considered by the evaluation model.

5. Consider your budget

When choosing CISO software for your company, budget will also be a significant factor. You can achieve this by applying such methods as cost benefit analysis in making decisions about investment basing them upon the concept of time value for money.

Here are some of the cost benefits you need to look out for: 

• Find opportunities that allow you the versatility in billing and customizable problems to fit your organization
• Choose software solutions that do not lock you into long-term contracts. That will allow you the freedom to adjust how needed.
• Visit other choices that offer a good discount for using the software for bigger units of time
• Options involving pay-for-usage billing structures are preferable. By doing so, you have to get used to payment for services that you use.
• It is advisable to select software that allows custom scalability amounts according to your needs

6. Sit through multiple demos to qualify the best one

If you want to quickly understand  how a product works, online demos are the best way to go. It exists as the easiest way for product owners to showcase their software. But what’s in it for you?

• You will get to experience the product’s user interface firsthand to grasp how it works
• You can see the features and benefits in action and get more in-depth insight than a PDF or a documentation could offer
• You will get to engage with specialists who know the cybersecurity software inside and out during the demonstration. This will help you choose the right version for your business.
• You will get to directly interact with experts to get detailed answers, aiding your decision-making process according to the business needs

7. Is the tool scalable?

The tool you pick needs to be able to grow with your needs, handling lots of things and different types of setups. It should protect many devices spread out over a big area and work with different cloud and on-premise systems as you get bigger. 

Even if you’re a smaller business, the tool should still be able to scale up for the long haul.

Take Sprinto, for example. It’s not just for compliance – you can use it to check for vulnerabilities, use it for continuous real-time monitoring, collect evidence and documentation, and much more.

8. Is it easy to integrate with other tools?

Cybersecurity strategy is far-reaching and usually don’t work alone. They need to team up with other systems to make a complete security posture plan without any security gaps. 

They should link with all your enterprise devices, even the Internet of Things (IoT), to get all the info. They should also team up with dashboards and alert systems.  

9. Reliability and performance

Lastly, don’t ignore reliability and performance while selecting a cybersecurity stack. Check out their performance record of the past 6-12 months compared to their SLAs.

They should also have a monitoring and reporting system; ask for it if there are no documents.

Alternatively, a deep dive can be conducted using their online performance history to evaluate how they have handled server downtime and addressed customer concerns with the help of their support team.

10. Does the product provide reliable support?

When you invest in a new cybersecurity product, it is not just another useful tool that will come along – this will be an extended member of your team. As a CISO, you need to answer the bell every morning, especially during a cyber attack; they must ensure that each partner is able to provide reliable support at all times of the day.

Places such as Gartner’s reports provide customer service and support ratings for you to evaluate how good a product is because of a given task. This includes ensuring partners in cybersecurity also have adequate security teams to take care of crisis.

Discover a compliance companion in Sprinto

Being a CISO is a challenging job with lots of responsibilities. It requires a mix of skills and experience. 

Hence, selecting the right CISO tools is the need of the hour for strengthening your security posture. 

We hope our list has been helpful! 

Start today, whether you’re just starting or looking to enhance your toolkit. 

Tell us which tools could benefit you the most for your compliance readiness. Our experts are ready to assist you on your cybersecurity journey if you need expert guidance.

FAQs

Do you think the role of CISO in cybersecurity is evolving?

Yes, the role of the CISO in cybersecurity is constantly evolving at a heightened pace. This is also true because the change is instrumental, and the main reason for this is the constant new upgrades and invenetions happening in the cybersecurity industry.  

What is the first thing a CISO should do?

As a CISO, one of the firs things you need to focus on is figuring out what tools or tech stack your company is currently using. If it’s your current tech stack, you might need to a little bit of digging to get a clear picture of your various critical assets to build a strong cybersecurity posture.

Who is a CISO?

A CISO is a big-deal executive in charge of keeping an eye on and handling all the cybersecurity-related activities of a company. They ensure everything in the company’s cloud setup is super secure with a wide range of tools. CISO’s have to make sure that the cloud security and assets are confidential, intact, and always available when needed. 

What is the top priority of CISO?

The top priority for CISOs is always cutting down on risks while maintaining your security posture. This is because they want to ensure everything is as safe as possible.