Being a figurehead in operations isn't enough; CISOs need risk management know-how.

Let me begin by saying I'm friends with many CISOs, and I have done significant business with, reported to, and have been a CISO. During the past five years, I've seen trends that lead me to believe the CISO role needs an update, and those who fail to recognize this may soon wonder where their careers went.

Most CISOs I have run across are trying to build and maintain empires with hands-on operational employees, such as firewall administrators, intrusion detection specialists and forensic analysts. In most IT organizations, however, there already are well-established operations teams that cover network infrastructure, server and desktop administration, application development and maintenance, and other areas. As security has evolved from a niche discipline into something every IT professional should be aware of, it makes more sense to take a strategic approach by migrating similar operational functions into well-established groups that overlap with security. Trying to win the headcount war is a losing battle for security managers.