This spring, we had the privilege of gathering with over 100 CISOs from leading enterprises across Atlanta, Washington D.C., and New York. These weren’t keynote-driven conferences, they were closed-door, peer-to-peer discussions, where security leaders could be candid about the challenges, pressures, and opportunities they face today.
The role of the CISO as it reaches its thirteenth year is evolving at speed. AI is accelerating at an unprecedented pace, geopolitical tensions are exacerbating, and nation-state cyberattacks are becoming more frequent and sophisticated. At the same time, regulatory scrutiny and personal liability risks continue to place new burdens on security leaders.
Reflecting on the 2025 CISO Village Spring Tour, here are four key takeaways that highlight where the world’s top CISOs are focused in 2025.
Takeaway #1: Geopolitics and Nation-State Threats Are Now Core to Cyber Strategy
Cybersecurity is no longer just an enterprise challenge, it is now a matter of national security. Nation-state actors are targeting critical infrastructure, financial institutions, and global supply chains as extensions of geopolitical strategy and we’re seeing these attacks come from multiple origins daily.
During our discussions in Washington D.C., Admiral Mike Rogers, former Director of the NSA and Team8 Operating Partner, emphasized that CISOs must adopt a geopolitical mindset when assessing cyber risk. Understanding motives, tactics, and capabilities—and building personal relationships with key government decision-makers—is now as critical as knowing the latest ransomware threats.
Enterprises are no longer passive bystanders in global cyber conflicts. Organizations must proactively strengthen partnerships with government agencies, build intelligence-driven defense strategies, and prepare for cyber incidents that may be politically or militarily motivated.
The bottom line: The role of the CISO has expanded beyond enterprise risk management—today, it is deeply connected to national resilience and global stability.
Takeaway #2: AI Is Both the Biggest Opportunity and Greatest Threat
AI was a dominant theme throughout our Spring Tour. Security leaders are simultaneously embracing AI for defense and grappling with its potential risks—from AI-driven phishing attacks to deepfake-powered fraud.
CISOs are being forced to balance AI-driven productivity gains with the need for strict (or sometimes lax) governance and security controls. As AI adoption accelerates, new questions arise: How do we ensure visibility into AI-generated decisions? How do we mitigate adversarial AI threats? How do we prevent confidential data leakage into the popular AI models such as DeepSeek?
During our innovation sessions, we highlighted a Team8 portfolio company in stealth that is helping enterprises govern and secure AI usage by providing transparency, monitoring, and compliance tools. The message was clear: AI is not an emerging risk—it is a present and urgent concern.
Takeaway #3: Innovation and Investment across a Portfolio are Essential to Keep Up
The most effective security leaders across enterprises are those who embrace continuous innovation—not just in technology, but also in strategy, operations, and leadership.
Throughout the Spring Tour, we saw firsthand how CISOs are reinventing their security programs through internal changes and new methodologies. We also showcased five key areas where they can modernize and strengthen their defenses: AI Security, Proactive Security, Product Security, Identity, and Ransomware & Fraud.
- Proactive Security → Companies like Ionix, Nagomi, and another stealth company are helping organizations identify and mitigate threats before they escalate.
- Product Security→ A company in stealth and Ox Security ensure that security is embedded from day one, rather than patched in later.
- Identity Security → Orchid is redefining IAM orchestration, while Akeyless is securing machine identities at scale.
- AI Security → One of our newest stealth companies empowers enterprises to safely leverage Generative AI by providing transparency and control.
- Ransomware and Fraud → Companies like Mimic (who recently raised a massive $50M Series A) and Charm focused on the challenge of extortion and scams in securing our most critical asset, humans.
Many of these companies and innovations were inspired by conversations with security leaders at last year’s CISO Summit and through regular engagement that revealed critical gaps in the ecosystem.
The takeaway is clear: The security leaders who embrace innovation today will be the ones building resilient, future-proof organizations.
Takeaway #4: CISOs Are Overloaded—But the Community Is Fighting Back
CISOs today are navigating unprecedented levels of stress, burnout, and personal liability. They are responsible for managing expanding attack surfaces, complying with complex and evolving regulations, and facing increased scrutiny from boards and executive teams, especially in the aftermath of security breaches.
As the role of the CISO continues to evolve—from technical expert to business strategist and risk leader—the challenges and expectations have only intensified.
One clear solution across a range of CISOs emerged: community.
Leaders like Deborah Wheeler, CISO of Delta Airlines, underscored the importance of trusted peer networks, where CISOs can openly exchange ideas, share challenges, and support one another. Aaron Hughes, CISO at Albertsons Companies, emphasized that strong communication skills and executive alignment are now essential for every CISO navigating this new era of leadership where you need to also build strong internal community.
At the same time, Heather Hinton and Charles Blauner advocated for the professionalization of the CISO role, calling for structured career paths and formal education programs, much like those established for other C-level executives such as CFOs and COOs. They stressed that as the responsibilities and expectations placed on CISOs continue to grow, the profession itself must evolve to meet the moment.
Facilitating these discussions is what makes the CISO Village so unique. It’s not just a forum for thought leadership—it’s a trusted community for security leaders protecting the world’s largest enterprises in today’s high-stakes environment.
Looking Ahead (Optimistically)
The risks are growing, but the leaders we met across these three cities are more resilient than ever.
At the CISO Village, we are committed to supporting this community, not just with technology, but with collaboration, leadership, freindship and shared knowledge.
We look forward to continuing these conversations at our flagship CISO Summit in Miami and the Florida Keys in June. Until then, while we have a lot of work to do as a community, i’m confident we’re moving in the right direction.
