CISO Paychecks: Worth the Growing Security Headaches?

Cybersecurity professionals serving as chief information security officers (CISOs) continue to see respectable increases in pay, but not at the same rate as two years ago, and not in a way the keeps up with the changes to their responsibilities.

The average CISO now earns $403,000 in annual compensation — including salary, bonuses for reaching specific goals, and equity, such as stock options — representing a 6.4% increase over the past 12 months, according to IANS Research's "2024 CISO Compensation Report" published on Oct. 2. However, changes to the threat landscape frequently put business operations under attack, the responsibility for which falls on the shoulders of the CISO, especially following rules issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that requires CISOs to determine whether a breach is material within four days of discovery.

CISOs often do not have enough resources at heir disposal to do so, putting them in legal jeopardy, or, conversely, are successfully mitigating threats only to endure budget pressures because of that success, says Fred Kwong, vice president and CISO at DeVry University.

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