Rise of the Digital Trust & Resilience Officer: Death of the CISO, Part 2
In my previous post, The Death of the CISO: A Eulogy & Reincarnation, I argued that the traditional role of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is evolving—or rather, undergoing a necessary transformation. The response was overwhelming, with over 100,000 views on LinkedIn alone, demonstrating that this shift is not only necessary but deeply resonant across industries. While some loved their CISO title, nobody argued with my premise that this role is not the same and has evolved. Information security in the title does not adequately describe this role anymore.
The question now is, what should the CISO become?
I initially posited the title of Digital Risk & Resilience Officer, but upon further reflection, I believe a better mantle may be Digital Trust & Resilience Officer. Why? Because trust—not just risk management—is the foundation of the modern digital enterprise. Trust is proactive, holistic, and forward-looking. Risk management, while crucial, is what achieves and enables trust, but is often perceived as a cost center rather than a business enabler.
Why Digital Trust is Paramount in Today’s Business Environment
The world operates on digital trust. Every transaction, every customer interaction, every collaboration within and beyond the enterprise is predicated on confidence in the integrity, confidentiality, availability, security, and ethical stewardship of data, information, and digital infrastructure/architecture. Without trust, digital transformation collapses under the weight of skepticism, uncertainty, and regulatory scrutiny.
Consider the following:
- Trust is the Ultimate Brand Currency. The digital economy has ushered in an era where businesses are built not just on products or services, but on relationships. Those relationships, in turn, are founded on trust. Companies that cultivate digital trust enjoy stronger brand loyalty, higher customer retention, and a distinct competitive advantage. A single breach—whether of data, privacy, or ethics—can shatter that trust, sometimes irreparably. Just ask any organization that has suffered a high-profile cybersecurity incident and watched its stock price plummet and customers flee.
- Trust Extends Beyond the Enterprise. Organizations no longer operate in isolation. The modern business ecosystem is an extended enterprise that includes third parties, suppliers, contractors, cloud providers, and strategic partners. A security vulnerability or compliance failure anywhere in this network can disrupt operations, expose sensitive information, and damage reputations. Managing risk is necessary—but instilling trust throughout the digital ecosystem ensures continuity, resilience, and shared confidence in business relationships.
- Stakeholders Demand Trust, Not Just Risk Mitigation. Investors, regulators, employees, and customers are no longer satisfied with mere compliance. They demand ethical AI, responsible data governance, robust cybersecurity, and transparency in risk management. The organizations that lead with trust—rather than just react to risks—are the ones that will attract investment, talent, and long-term loyalty.
- Trust is the Foundation of Innovation. Organizations that are mired in constant risk aversion struggle to innovate. Fear-based risk management stifles digital transformation and agility. Conversely, a trust-based approach empowers businesses to adopt new technologies, expand into new markets, and experiment with emerging business models—secure in the knowledge that their digital foundation is strong, resilient, and credible.
Digital Trust is More Valuable Than Digital Risk Management
Risk management is essential, but it does not inspire confidence by itself. Trust, on the other hand, is a business driver. Trust fosters engagement, enables growth, and secures long-term business viability. Risk is the effect of uncertainty on objectives. One of those core objectives, in this context, is digital trust. That is the focus and goal and provides the context for risk management.
While risk must be understood, controlled, and mitigated, trust must be actively built, nurtured, and expanded. Consider:
- Trust enhances business value. Companies with strong trust postures outperform their competitors in customer satisfaction, revenue growth, and market valuation.
- Trust is proactive. Risk management seeks to manage uncertainty to objectives and is in reaction to the objective of digital trust. Trust ensures positive engagement.
- Trust builds resilience. Organizations with high trust are more adaptive in crises, better at recovering from incidents, and more likely to maintain customer and investor confidence in uncertain times.
Reframing the CISO as the Digital Trust & Resilience Officer
The modern CISO cannot simply be a guardian of risk and controls. That role, while critical, is too narrow, too limiting. The future demands a leader who ensures trust in the digital enterprise—a leader who integrates cybersecurity, privacy, ethics, governance, compliance, and digital operational resilience into a seamless strategic function. This is not just a semantic shift; it is a fundamental redefinition of purpose and value.
The Digital Trust & Resilience Officer:
- Builds confidence in digital transactions, interactions, and data stewardship.
- Ensures resilience not just against cyber threats, but against any disruption to trust (e.g., AI bias, regulatory misalignment, unethical data use).
- Engages with the board and executive leadership as a strategic partner, demonstrating how trust translates into business value.
- Leads a proactive culture of integrity, security, and digital ethics rather than one of fear and restriction.
The Future of Digital Trust & Resilience
As organizations continue to navigate the complexities of digital transformation, trust will become an even more critical differentiator. The role of the CISO—or its successor—must evolve beyond security and risk oversight into one that fosters and maintains digital trust and operational resilience across the digital enterprise.
What do you think? Should the CISO evolve into the Digital Trust & Resilience Officer? Or does the focus on risk still hold more weight and it should be the Digital Risk & Resilience Officer? Or do you prefer sticking to the old CISO title? I’d love to hear your thoughts.