The CISO community · Since 2012
Advancing the CISO Profession
CISOs Connect™ is a global community and platform dedicated to advancing Chief Information Security Officers and the profession they lead. We bring security executives together to exchange experience, examine the issues reshaping their organizations, contribute to practitioner-led research, develop as leaders, evaluate innovation, and recognize excellence across the profession.
By the Numbers
What’s next
Coming Up
New dates are announced as venues are confirmed.
How the community works
A Community Built Around CISOs
Cybersecurity leadership is increasingly consequential, complex, and visible. CISOs need trusted environments where they can speak candidly with people who understand the responsibility of the role. CISOs Connect™ creates those environments—across executive forums, research, leadership development, innovation programs, recognition, and year-round community engagement.
Community
Executive Community
Trusted relationships and substantive exchange among cybersecurity leaders.
Research
Research
CISOs examining the technologies, risks, priorities, and leadership issues shaping the profession.
Exchange
Executive Forums
Forums are kept small and run as discussions. The room sets the agenda.
Innovation
Innovation
Structured opportunities for CISOs to evaluate emerging technologies and engage directly with solution providers.
Leadership
Leadership
Programs and conversations addressing the expanding responsibilities of the modern CISO.
Recognize
Recognition
Awards created to recognize cybersecurity leaders and the companies delivering meaningful value to them.
“It is imperative for us to have a community that bolsters us professionally, offers opportunities for information sharing, and lends support, mentorship and guidance.”
Kevin McKenzie, CISO, Ferguson Enterprises
Report series
CISOs Investigate™
Vendor-neutral research written by CISOs, for CISOs. Each edition brings experienced security executives together to examine an important technology or market category through the lens of the people responsible for evaluating, implementing, and governing it.
Ongoing survey
CISO Pulse™
A continuing view into the priorities, pressures, decisions, and emerging concerns of cybersecurity executives.
Programs
Where CISOs meet, evaluate and decide
Executive forums
CISOs Connect™
Executive forums built around candid, interactive discussion.
Evaluation
Security Shark Tank®
CISOs evaluate solutions directly and ask the questions that determine whether technology moves forward.
“There is nothing out there for CISOs like the Security Shark Tank®.”
Bradley Schaufenbuel, VP & CISO, Paychex
Education
CISOs Academy
CISO-taught education for security leaders, from deputy to board level. Coming soon.
Innovation
Innovation Concierge™ & Innovation Exchange™
Structured connections between executive needs and relevant innovation.
Inside the room
Peers, not presentations
CISOs Connect™ Austin, Sept. 14, 2026
Recognition
Recognizing the Leaders—and Solutions—Shaping Cybersecurity
CISOs Connect™ recognition programs celebrate leadership, contribution, innovation, and impact.
C100 · APAC C25™ · A100 · DC100 · CISO Choice Awards™
Judges have included CISOs from Domino’s Pizza Enterprises, RWJBarnabas Health, Stitch Fix, Freddie Mac, UL Solutions and Paychex.
“Recognition from CISOs carries a unique level of credibility because it reflects real-world experience and accountability.”
Hussein Syed, SVP & CISO, RWJBarnabas Health
A living resource
The History of the CISO
The CISO role has evolved from a primarily technical function into one of the most consequential leadership positions in the modern enterprise. Our living History of the CISO resource documents that evolution, the forces that shaped it, and the questions still open.
For organizations
Organizations engage with CISOs Connect™ through executive forums, research, innovation programs and partnerships. Participation is intentionally limited to preserve the quality of the exchange.