Page 46 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2025

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Lesson: CISOs must speak fluently across law, ethics, and business strategy — not just technology.

5. Culture as the Ultimate Security Control

Even the strongest technical controls fail if an employee unquestioningly trusts an AI's flawed output or
ignores a security protocol.

Three human-first cultural practices:

• Verifiable Explainability: If AI can't explain its decision in plain language, it doesn't go live.
• Quantum War Games: Annual tabletop exercises to simulate post-quantum attack scenarios.
• Transparency Reports: Publicly share AI safety posture and PQC readiness metrics.

The cultural truth: Security is not just an IT function — it's a shared organizational value.

Closing Thoughts: The CISO as a Futurist

The CISO of tomorrow is more than a defender — they're a visionary who shapes Trust, safeguards
innovation, and anticipates threats before they emerge.

• For CISOs, the time for action is now. Start piloting PQC migrations, implement AI oversight
frameworks, and form cross-functional governance boards. The future of your organization's
security depends on the decisions you make today.
• For Boards & Executives: Support these initiatives at the strategic level because resilience is
now measured in trust capital as much as in uptime.

The question isn't whether you'll face AI and quantum threats — it's whether your organization will lead
through them or scramble to catch up.

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