I recently attended an IDC analyst presentation analyzing emerging trends in the cybersecurity realm, and one slide in particular caught my attention. There was an image of a pyramid that included labels with several of ISACA’s fields of interest – risk, security, compliance, ethics, privacy – and at the very top of the pyramid was “trust,” with trust-enabled commerce, trusted ecosystems and trusted governance highlighted as outcomes to strive toward.
This depiction reinforced that ISACA’s focus on building digital trust can serve as an overarching rallying cry not only for our professional community, but for all those who play a part in the digital ecosystem.
The analyst briefing also highlighted several significant challenges affecting the industry, with factors such as a scarcity of qualified professionals, the move toward hybrid work, growing sophistication of cybercriminals, the proliferation of security tool sets, continued evolution of compliance regulations and enterprises’ ongoing digital transformation needs combining to raise the bar for what organizations expect from digital trust professionals.
These complexities create increased dependencies among professionals who work in fields such as security, privacy, risk and audit. A more holistic understanding of how these fields complement and build off each other to strengthen the digital ecosystem is becoming necessary, both to deal with the threat landscape and to successfully execute complicated transformation projects.
ISACA members are on the front lines of strengthening digital trust, and as that perspective gains traction in our community, it has been great to hear many members and certification-holders embrace that point of view – and embrace ISACA as their partner on that journey. “I think ISACA, as an organization, has a big role to play in advancing the idea of digital trust and influencing that space through education and the people piece,” ISACA member Julie Chatman said in a recent video feature. “We think about people, process and technology, and the temptation in cyber is to focus on the technology. If you’re in audit, the temptation is to focus on the process. But it’s really all about the people.”
Even in our technology-centric world, it is the expertise, critical thinking skills, empathy and dedication of professionals that are most urgently needed, which is why ISACA is committed to providing our community with the knowledge and tools needed to be leaders at work. If you haven’t already visited the new digital trust page on the ISACA website, please do so – you’ll find resources such as a free-for-members course on digital trust, a white paper and additional content. Later in the year, there will be much more, including a digital trust framework that our global community is creating together and relevant data points on digital trust from research that ISACA is conducting.
This is such an impactful time to be a digital trust professional. Challenges abound, but so do opportunities to find ways to make new technologies, new delivery models and a shifting workforce empower enterprises to grow and thrive. Business leaders can make this a reality if they prioritize digital trust and provide their teams with the resources and shared sense of purpose to strengthen it in their daily work.