January 1, 2025
"A Battle CISO knows that no playbook survives first contact with an attacker. They focus on adaptability and flexibility, knowing that these qualities – not theoretical readiness – are what carry teams through a crisis."
It’s no secret that many CISOs have never faced a serious cybersecurity incident. For some, this reflects their ability to keep threats at bay. For others, it’s simply the calm of “peacetime.” But here’s the uncomfortable truth: peace doesn’t last forever. When a real incident strikes, many CISOs find out, alas too late, that their tools, plans, and strategies weren’t built for the fight.
For those who’ve faced a major incident, the outcome is often career-defining, or career-ending. So why does this keep happening? Because many CISOs are stuck in a “peacetime” mentality, living inside an echo chamber that reinforces ideas of readiness but falls apart under pressure.
Most CISOs operate in a peacetime role. While tools are carefully evaluated through vendor pitches and proofs-of-concept, the demands of an actual incident often reveal gaps between what’s promised and what’s delivered. Their strategies are shaped by advice from other CISOs and public speakers who also live in a theoretical world where incidents are hypothetical. It creates an echo chamber that reinforces what “good” security looks like - at least until something goes wrong.
And for a while, this works. The blinky lights on dashboards provide a sense of comfort. Incident response playbooks sit neatly on a shelf, ready for the “what if.” But when the calm is shattered by a real breach, these peacetime strategies quickly fall apart.
The tools that seemed impressive in demos fail to deliver when tested under fire. Incident response plans created without the perspective of real-world incidents don’t hold up when tested in a real incident. Even the team - skilled in routine operations - is overwhelmed by the chaos of a real attack. Suddenly, those carefully laid plans and expensive tools reveal themselves to be nothing more than vapourware.
Many CISOs face a 'chicken-and-egg' paradox: their primary role is to prevent incidents, which often limits opportunities to gain real-world full scale response experience. This creates an absurd dynamic where the very success of prevention efforts can lead to gaps in the ability to respond when a crisis does strike.
Imagine this: A breach happens. You reach for the incident playbook you’ve relied on for years. It should have all the answers, but it doesn’t. It was written for a narrow, specific scenario that doesn’t reflect what’s happening in front of you. It’s rigid, outdated, and entirely useless in the face of this unique crisis.
This is where the illusion of readiness shatters. Theoretical plans and tools don’t win battles. What you need is someone who’s been in the trenches - someone who knows how to lead when everything is on the line.
This is where the concept of the “Battle CISO” comes into play. Borrowing from military doctrine, it’s inspired by the role of a Battle Captain. The term “Battle Captain” is well known in military doctrine and the role is essential to ensure planning, coordination, decision-making, and information management are coordinated on the battlefield. Without this role, even the best-laid strategies fail under pressure.
A principle often attributed to military strategist Helmuth von Moltke encapsulates this idea perfectly: “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” In the chaos of a live incident, rigid plans often fail to account for the unpredictable. It’s not the strength of the plan that determines success but the ability to adapt quickly to evolving circumstances.
The Battle CISO adopts the same principles. They’re not confined by rigid plans or overly structured models. Instead, they adapt to the reality of the situation. They’ve led incident after incident, learning from experience what works - and what doesn’t. They know which tools are genuinely helpful and which are just noise. Most importantly, they bring clarity and confidence when everything feels chaotic.
A Battle CISO knows that no playbook survives first contact with an attacker. They focus on adaptability and flexibility, knowing that these qualities - not theoretical readiness - are what carry teams through a crisis.
Here’s the truth: no organization can avoid every possible threat. Incidents are inevitable. The difference between surviving and faltering lies in preparation - not for peacetime, but for battle.
For most CISOs, this means stepping out of the comfort zone of peacetime security. It means critically evaluating your tools and asking whether they’ll actually help in a crisis - or whether they’re just another set of blinky lights. It means testing your team in real-world scenarios instead of running rehearsed drills. And it means partnering with someone who has the real-world experience to lead when it matters most.
At ThreatLight, we focus on one thing: preparing for and responding to cybersecurity incidents. This isn’t theory - it’s what we do every day. We’ve managed several hundred full-scale incidents across multiple industries and regions, bringing decades of experience to bear on one simple goal: stopping incidents effectively.
Before a crisis, we help our customers cut through the noise, trimming unnecessary tools and ensuring that their systems are battle-ready. During an incident, we take the lead on the investigation, guiding the team through the chaos and adapting in real time to resolve the threat. Our hybrid model revolutionizes incident response by blending AI-powered tools for speed, scale and precision, with the hands-on expertise of a seasoned team who specialize in both offensive & defensive security. Afterward, we help the organizations rebuild to be more resilient, with practical advice to help prevent repeat incidents.
This isn’t about dashboards or demos. It’s about ensuring you’re ready for the battle when it comes - because it will. When the calm ends, will you be ready?
A Battle CISO knows that no playbook survives first contact with an attacker. They focus on adaptability and flexibility, knowing that these qualities – not theoretical readiness – are what carry teams through a crisis.
