In our first public WiseBrew live webinar, we presented the findings of our recent job satisfaction survey of senior IT professionals. We were lucky to have an amazing panel join us, and as our own CEO, Sara Gates, quoted, “Interesting people have interests.” Our panelists were nothing but interesting:

• Nikk Gilbert, VP of technology and CISO for CUNA Mutual Group, is an Egyptologist
• Paul Harjung, CISO at S.L. Gore & Associates, is an experienced bungee jumper and repeller
• Fahmida Rashid, cyber security journalist for Security Week, is a skydiving and dangerous sports enthusiast
• Elden Nelson, editor in chief at Wisegate, is a cycling enthusiast and the single largest fundraiser for the Livestrong Foundation

Our panelists added valuable insight into not just the “what’s” of our survey results, but were able to decipher the “why’s.” You can view the webinar recording here, but we wanted to share our top four takeaways!

WHY do 29 percent of survey respondents say they don’t know what training they need to advance their careers?

While this number seemed surprisingly high, our panelists believe that many IT professionals don’t know where to turn for help. Given the complexity of the industry, there’s no way you can go it alone. Perhaps they’re unsure of where they want to take their career, or maybe they’ve already reached a level of seniority that they don’t have anyone in-house from which they can learn. The survey found that company structure had an impact on where and how professionals get help. In flat companies, people usually turn to mentors outside the company to learn. In hierarchical companies, most professionals turn to managers. All of our panelists agreed that no matter how senior your employee, or the shape of your company, finding ways to continue to train employees is paramount to improving their impact on the company and employee retention.

WHY do 65 percent of IT professionals feel like their companies are taking their department “somewhat” or “very” seriously?

This high figure seems to demonstrate an improvement in sentiment over the last few years. Our panelists suggested that IT has evolved over the last decade—it has shifted from the perception that IT is a cost to the perception that IT is an investment. Company executives are beginning to understand that IT—especially IT security—is a critical, strategic need for their businesses. As IT becomes more integrated into high-level business processes, it will gain respect as an integral department. We also found that larger, more bleeding-edge companies tend to take IT departments more seriously.

WHY do 87 percent of IT professionals believe that business knowledge skills are most important for career advancement?

The top rated skills from study were building relationships, influencing others and being business savvy. The lowest ranked skills were app development, programming and system admin. As mentioned above, IT is becoming more integrated into the business process, therefore IT professionals realize that to be successful in this evolving IT role, they must become more familiar and comfortable with processes outside of their own departments. For example, Nikk shared an anecdote from prior experience in which his company’s sales team was having difficulty selling due to IT security concerns. The IT department met with the customer and cleared concerns, closing the deal for the sales team. They then realized that IT could be part of the revenue stream instead of the cost stream.

Lastly, WHY do 47 percent of IT professionals believe the best way to advance their careers is to leave their current companies?

Perhaps senior IT professionals work under one or two people and have nowhere to advance internally. Perhaps some IT professionals are working for companies that don’t provide them with opportunities to learn. What we did find was consistent across our survey responses were that the top three things that would make them happier in their careers were “more opportunities to learn,” “positive feedback from the business side” and “more challenging work opportunities.” Receiving more money ranked sixth out of the eight items listed, which shows that a bigger paycheck is far from the most important thing companies can consider to retain good talent.

Chris is an information security professional that loves cycling, traveling and spending time with his family. In his recently launched blog, “Technology, Cycling and Other Random Thoughts,” Chris shares his passion for bicycling, technology, science and business current events from the perspective of an IT professional.

One of his recent blog posts, Avoiding Hyperbole, shares an interesting viewpoint on the widespread media frenzy and industry panic the Target breach has caused. How could such a significant breach occur at an established and successful enterprise? What are security professionals doing to avoid a major breach like this at his/her organization? In essence, what should we, as IT professionals, do about it?

Take a look at Chris’ insightful, clever take on what businesses can learn from the Target breach and how to shape their security approach from here out.

READ THE ENTIRE POST ON TECHNOLOGY, CYCLING AND OTHER RANDOM THOUGHTS >> 

After surveying hundreds of IT professionals on job satisfaction, company culture and the soft skills needed to move a career forward, we found that many CISOs are looking to increase their business savvy and influence, they prioritize learning opportunities over money and they plan to take charge of their career trajectory, even if it means leaving their current company (which most feel it does).

On Thursday, June 19th from 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. CT, we will have an open dialog with CISO experts Nikk Gilbert and Paul Harjung, cyber security journalist Fahmida Y. Rashid, and Wisegate leaders Elden Nelson and Sara Gates about the larger trends driving senior IT professionals in new directions. Here are a few key takeaways you can expect to walk away with from the webinar:

• How does this mindset affect businesses large and small, and how can you hang onto your top IT talent?
• Does the IT talent crunch and increased job movement make companies more vulnerable?
• What skills dictate success in this profession today?
• What drives the greatest job satisfaction and happiness for CISOs?

Wisegate members and non-members are welcome to register to attend.

REGISTER TODAY >>

We will be live-tweeting the webinar as well. You may follow along on Twitter by using the hashtag #WiseBrew on June 19th from 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. CT.

Bring your coffee and questions and join in on this WiseBrew discussion.

While the report can provide deeper analysis and details of the survey answers, we wanted to share three quick, key takeaways that provide a glimpse into how IT professionals feel they are viewed at work.

1. IT is gaining respect.
   We were pleased to see that IT is gaining respect in the businesses it services. Most survey participants – 72 percent – believe IT is taken seriously and none said it is taken “not seriously at all.” However, we noticed that in larger companies, nearly nobody reported not being taken very seriously at work, whereas nearly a quarter of IT professionals at companies of fewer than 500 employees feel the IT department is not taken very seriously by their company.
2. IT pros want to develop three key skills to advance their careers.
   The top three skills and attributes that IT professionals listed as worthwile to move their career forward were: 1) being business savvy, 2) influencing others, and 3) building relationships. While it’s clear to IT professionals they need to build soft skills, it is less clear to find out where they can go to learn these skills.
3. To move forward, you’re moving out.
   Nearly half of the survey respondents reported that they have to leave their current company in order to move up the career ladder. Two-thirds of the respondents expect to be moving on their career within the next two years.

Interested in finding out what you can do to develop your IT career further? Want to learn how to keep top IT talent at your current business? Download Hello, I Must Be Going for a closer look at how IT professionals feel they are regarded at their workplaces.

Stay tuned for the next report in the series!

During this roundtable you can expect to:

• Explore the key elements of a mature IAM program
• Find out where organizations truly are with IAM
• Hear about planned IAM initiatives for 2014

The need to connect and manage an increasing number of distributed digital identities across organizations remains a key challenge for IT professionals. Get real-world advice for addressing IAM by connecting with others who have already navigated these waters, or are right in the middle of figuring out their strategy.

Wisegate members are welcome to register for the roundtable here.

We are also opening up the online event to a handful of qualified, non-Wisegate members. Interested in participating or know someone who would be a great fit? You may request to participate in this invite-only event.

Prior to joining the roundtable, you can learn more about IAM from our recent Wisegate Answers report, 2014 Identity and Access Management Maturity. Hope to see you there!

While security awareness will continue to be a challenge, CISOs agreed that there are many innovative and practical strategies to incorporate into a company culture. Take a look at the list and infographic below to see how you can incorporate these practices into your workplace activities.

1. Keep data classification simple.

Use only two labels to classify data. CISOs suggest using sensitive/not sensitive or protected/unprotected terminology. As departments outside of IT will typically be involved in risk management, it’s important to keep labels and terminology as simple and straightforward as possible.

2. Train, train, train.

Educating employees on security awareness is one of the most vital things a company can do to protect against risks. Enlist the departments (Marketing and Training) or third-party training applications to help efficiently train employees on best security practices. Keep in mind the different ways people learn – visually, verbally, logically and socially – and look for opportunities to break down barriers during training. Many people do not bring up specific instances because they are afraid of getting in trouble. Create an open atmosphere as best as possible so employees feel comfortable in an otherwise uncomfortable situation.

3. Be diligent, but creative, about program management.

This is where CISOs can get creative. Appoint security champions who appear more approachable than the security staff. Create information coffee talks to let employees air complaints or bring up security questions. Incentivize staff to continue training. Fore example, a CISO shared in the Wisegate Answers report that if his staff does not complete security training, they cannot get a raise for that year.

4. Track security awareness success.

Chart your progress so you can have perspective on how far along or far behind your staff is on security awareness. You can do this by implementing yearly quizzes, for example, to track progress. Be aware that results may not always be where you would like for them to be.

Interested in diving deeper into these strategies? Download our Wisegate Answers report, Security Awareness Programs: CISOs Share Practical, Simple Strategies, to find out more specific strategies CISOs have implemented into their security awareness programs.

As always, you can connect with us and share your thoughts on Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter.

To better understand what the landscape of security looks like for this year, we polled our Wisegate braintrust of senior information technology professionals on their top security threats and vulnerability concerns. We found five major areas to keep an eye on.

1. Protecting the privacy of data stored in the cloud
   More than half of our members said that protecting their company or institution’s data stored in the cloud from unauthorized release was their number one concern in 2014.
2. Increased enforcement of existing compliance requirements by the government
   Among members’ top concerns is the red tape that is arising from the Snowden affair. Focusing more time and resources on compliance with new regulations means less attention paid to protecting against more urgent risks, such as external or internal data theft.
3. More regulation in the United States and internationally
   In addition to regulation in the U.S., Wisegate executive members have noticed similar increased security and privacy rules and regulations abroad – specifically in Europe.
4. Malicious insiders, phishing and malware – and finding talent to fight these threats
   Members named insider threats, phishing and sophisticated malware as their organization’s most vulnerable weaknesses. IT pros believe that one of 2014’s largest security threats will be finding team members qualified to protect against these weaknesses, as there is a current shortage of security talent.
5. Data lost to accidental breaches like email leakage and unsafe cloud storage
   Major data breaches that have occurred over the last year to popular brands have raised concerns regarding human error. Members are looking for countermeasures to combat these sensitive data breaches caused by mistakes or sloppy procedures.

Interested in hearing more about the top five security threats to look out for this year? You can dive deeper into each security threat and hear testimonies from senior IT professionals about their experiences with these vulnerabilities by downloading our Wisegate Answers report, The Snowden Effect: Top 5 Security Threats.

Be sure to connect with us on Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter to let us know your thoughts.

The answer is simple: you shouldn’t.

We love LinkedIn here at Wisegate. It is one of the best options today’s professionals have for connecting with each other and networking across industries. However, when you need to talk to someone in your position, someone facing the same challenges you are on a daily basis and understands your questions, it can be difficult to find someone just like you in a pool that large. While you could previously hope to gleam insight from LinkedIn group polls, LinkedIn plans to retire their “Polls in Groups” function in mid-May. According to the networking site, they are doing this in order to focus on other products and services that will be more useful to a larger variety of members. This makes sense considering the sheer number of professionals who utilize LinkedIn for networking on a daily basis. It’s simply not feasible to serve that purpose while remaining a resource for niche industry groups.

That’s where Wisegate comes in. All of our members are highly experienced, senior level IT professionals. We center our approach to help our members in personalized ways, including polling our members (and allowing our members to poll each other) on the latest trends and topics in IT so members can measure their activities against their peers. Most recently we polled our members on choosing a cloud computing services and to find out how many of our members were actively using or considering private cloud services. You can take a look at the poll results in this report. Every day our members collaborate to answer IT’s big questions through polls, Q&A sessions, product reviews, document sharing, roundtables and working groups as well.  When you join Wisegate, all of those trusted resources are at your fingertips.

As IT leaders know full well, sometimes it takes a few solutions to improve a larger process. We encourage members to take advantage of every solution available to them – after all, there’s no need to choose between a raincoat and an umbrella when you step into a storm. Using LinkedIn to connect with people in your industry and company will provide you with a network of professionals, but joining Wisegate will give you a network of people just like you.

1. Collect multiple bids from vendors: The first step in contracting with Amazon Web Services or another cloud computing service is to explore which services would best suit your needs. Determine what your exact objectives are before reaching out to vendors.
2. Look into working with multiple vendors: Diversifying your cloud vendors based on specific needs (disaster recovery, development and testing, and data storage for example) can help protect your data.
   Get a list of external private cloud vendors our panel members have considered by clicking here.
3. Consider Azure if you operate in a Microsoft-centric environment: Panelists determined that Azure has an excellent cost model and a better program for metering than Amazon Web Services, however their Infrastructure as a Service is less mature than Amazon’s.
4. Migrating to the cloud may take longer than you think: depending on where and how you are storing data now, get ready for the long haul when switching to the cloud. Moving a datacenter application straight to the cloud simply will not work. Re-architecting and migrating can take a year or longer.
5. Be careful with AWS audits: While Amazon’s Cloud Trail web services provides a satisfactory level of auditing, one panelist continues to use its own auditing tools and recommends migrating sensitive data to the cloud last.

If you haven’t made the leap to the cloud, you’re not alone. Many of our members are still in the evaluating stage, and nearly half do not have cloud storage in immediate plans.

If you’re interested in getting more information about cloud storage best practices, hearing experiences from senior IT professionals or receiving benchmarks to see how your company fares against others we surveyed, you can download the full Amazon Web Services report here.

To gain a benchmark of IAM maturity across companies, Wisegate members commissioned a survey—run by Wisegate—of senior-level IT security professionals.

The survey results provide useful guidance to IT executives interested in how their peers across organizations regard their current IAM status, including:

• Access Management Maturity Level for Unique Person Identifier, Rich Identity Profile, Web SSO, Enterprise SSO, Federation, Externalized Authorization, and Role-Based Access
• Administration and Architecture Maturity Level in several factors, including Role Management, Identity Bridge, Self-Service Portal, Identity APIs, Role-Based Provisioning, Attestation/Certification, and Request-Based Provisioning
• External Provisioning and Cloud Systems for credentialing
• Identity Management Drivers at respondents’ organizations

A few of the key findings from the report are summarized in the infographic below:

The full report, titled “2014 Identity and Access Management Maturity” is available to Wisegate members.

As a special bonus, the full report will also be distributed to participants of the RSA Conference Peer2Peer session “Identity & Access Management (IAM) Maturity: A Comparison Across Companies” which is led by the report’s co-author Caedmon Bear, Principal, Identity Management Technology, Charles Schwab.

If you are attending the RSA Conference and interested in the topic of IAM, be sure to drop in for the session on Tuesday, February 25, 2014 from 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM in the West Hall, Room 2021.