Being a CISO is not for the weak-hearted. It’s a stressful role and an innately high-risk position. Around 25% of security leaders are replaced after a ransomware attack, according to a Sophos survey. But here’s the kicker: many of these breaches stem from a complex web of organizational challenges that extend far beyond any individual’s control.
The report reveals that organizations hit with ransomware typically face multiple operational challenges simultaneously—an average of 2.7 contributing factors per incident. The top three factors paint a clear picture: lack of expertise (40.2%), unknown security gaps (40.1%), and insufficient staffing (39.4%).
Organizations are often caught between competing priorities, resource constraints, and the inherent complexity of modern cybersecurity.
The Complex Reality Behind Ransomware Success
Yet when ransomware succeeds, the security leader often becomes the focal point for accountability—sometimes fairly, sometimes not. But this knee-jerk reaction misses a fundamental truth about modern cybersecurity failures.
When leadership seeks accountability after an incident, they’re often looking for individual performance failures, rather than the more likely cause: broader organizational issues. Budget decisions that delayed critical patches, staffing choices that left security teams too small, or risk decisions that prioritized business continuity in a perceived tradeoff with security hardening.
Some leadership changes after major incidents serve legitimate purposes by bringing in new expertise, driving organizational change, or addressing genuine performance issues. Others, however, miss the mark by focusing on personnel rather than the systemic issues that enabled the attack.
Like a football team constantly firing the coaching staff or general manager, it distracts from the deeper organizational issues that are the source of the real problem.
Why Known Gaps Remain Open
If organizations know about security vulnerabilities, why don’t they fix them? The answer reveals the impossible position many CISOs find themselves in.
- Budget reality checks: Security teams can identify dozens of vulnerabilities each month. Patching, upgrading, or replacing systems costs money and downtime. Leadership may weigh these costs and decide to accept the risk.
- Alert fatigue at scale: Modern security tools generate thousands of alerts daily. Teams drowning in notifications struggle to prioritize effectively, and genuine threats can get lost in the noise.
- Misaligned priorities: The business wants maximum uptime and minimal friction. Security wants patches, updates, and controlled access. When these goals conflict security concerns frequently lose.
- Resource starvation: You can identify every vulnerability in the world, but if you don’t have the people, tools, or budget to address them, they remain open doors for attackers.
Breaking the Cycle: A Strategic Approach
CISOs can successfully navigate ransomware incidents and address the issues that led to them with strategic approaches.
- Document everything: Keep detailed records of security recommendations and resource requests. Then make them easily accessible to decision makers even after that first email. Make it clear what could happen if the gap remains unaddressed.
- Speak business language: Don’t just report technical vulnerabilities: translate them into business impact. Instead of “unpatched servers,” say “systems that could lead to $2.3 million in downtime and compliance fines if compromised.”
- Create accountability frameworks: Develop clear criteria for what gets addressed first. Focus limited resources on the most dangerous combinations.
- Build executive relationships: CISOs who survive breaches typically have strong relationships with their CEO and board. Spend time educating leadership about security realities. Help leadership make informed decisions about risk.
The Path Forward
When known gaps remain unaddressed due to budget constraints or misaligned priorities, the resulting breach is a predictable outcome.
One critical challenge is the complexity that comes with managing dozens of different security tools. This may feel like defense-in-depth, but in practice, it often creates blind spots with data spread across multiple consoles and dashboards.
Consolidating security operations around unified platforms can address these issues. When security teams have comprehensive visibility, they’re better positioned to identify and address vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them. For organizations supporting distributed workforces—most companies today— SASE extends this unified approach. Rather than managing separate tools for remote access, internet protection, and SaaS security, teams get the visibility and control they need to close security gaps.
Sustainable security leadership requires addressing both technical and organizational challenges. You need the visibility and tools to identify and address security gaps efficiently. But you also need the executive relationships, communication skills, and documentation practices to ensure security gets appropriate organizational support.
Organizations that continue cycling through security leaders after preventable incidents often repeat the same underlying mistakes. Those that address the systemic issues position themselves for better security outcomes and more stable leadership.
Amit Bareket board-level cyber risk, breach accountability, CISO accountability, CISO survival strategies, cybersecurity governance, cybersecurity staffing shortages, executive cybersecurity responsibility, known security gaps, ransomware leadership fallout, ransomware organizational risk, ransomware root causes, SASE security strategy, security alert fatigue, security budget constraints, security tool sprawl, unified security platforms, why CISOs get fired
