It’s no secret that the responsibilities of security and risk management executives, like CISOs, CSOs, and CTOs, are dramatically expanding.

Not only are we accountable for being preemptive and vigilant against security threats and safeguarding business networks, we’re now rapidly evolving to become stewards of our organization’s brand, strengthening its reputation while also building board credibility and customer trust.

In my more than 12 years as CISO of Amazon Web Services, partnering with numerous AWS customers in their cloud and security journeys, I’ve come to recognize some standout organizations that are taking on this transformation remarkably well. I’ve also been able to see firsthand how they’re doing it.

What do we mean by successful security organizations? These are companies that are improving their risk posture at a more efficient rate than others, while, at the same time, optimizing their use of cloud to create new forms of business value at a faster pace.