Trust: The Next Security Milestone, or Just An Evolution?

The security landscape is ever-evolving, and along with it, businesses of all sizes are changing their security approaches. This article dives into the prevalence of trust in today’s data privacy, security, and more.

Chief Trust Officer title gains popularity as organizations double down on security

Security leaders have long held a variety of titles to signify an increasingly broad scope of work. Now, a new addition to the list seems to be increasing in frequency: the chief trust officer.

NinjaOne is one of several companies to employ a chief trust officer on its executive bench, and we spoke with Mike Arrowsmith back in September about the evolution of his role.

“I always tell people to think of me as a security-focused CIO, because the CIO role is so well-established in people’s minds that it’s an important starting point,” he told Channel Insider.

Some, though, question whether the emphasis on “trust” is merely a shift in the term’s popularity rather than a fundamental change in how organizations approach data and security.

“Trust has always been a key pillar in many organizations,” Appknox CEO Subho Halder said. “In some ways, it’s a very old word that has become a bit of a fad.”

He points to previous efforts to focus on privacy and even to establish privacy and data security roles, tied in part to GDPR adherence. To Halder, this more recent focus on trust is an evolution of that cycle.

Whether trust is the new buzzword or a signal of deeper shifts in businesses’ approaches to security, virtually everyone seems to agree that now is the time to recommit to the principles behind the terms.

Halder on why a title change alone isn’t enough

While some are all-in on changing titles to reflect new priorities, Halder cautions against thinking that naming someone a chief trust officer is enough to adequately address underlying issues.

“We understand the title isn’t a checkbox to complete, and it alone will not be enough,” Halder said. “The fundamental work should stay the same whether you have a trust officer or not, and that work cannot be outsourced to just one person.”

“If you change the title, that doesn’t mean the role is doing anything different,” Halder continued. “But let me be clear, I don’t think the chief trust officer role is useless, I just think it’s misunderstood.”

To Halder, the role should act as an orchestrator of tasks and workflows across departments, not as a one-stop shop where everything ultimately resides. 

Plus, he emphasizes, when something goes wrong, it’s important not to place the whole blame on one individual.

Bottom line: security will require all executives and entire teams to buy-in

That’s why Halder and many other executives we’ve spoken with this year urge their peers to build a company-wide culture around security, privacy, and, yes, trust.

Halder highlights the importance of proving your commitment in practice as customers weigh their own concerns and businesses work to remain secure as they adopt AI.

“Trust happens through proof that you do what you say you will, and that proof is the most important factor to customers, ultimately,” Halder said.

Recent studies have shown that skills gaps in critical security needs continue to impact how teams successfully operate. In a world where the financial risks remain high, company-wide understanding is more important than ever.

“Businesses need a proper strategy around all of this. And strategy is not just buying the product,” said 11:11 Systems’ Chief Experience Officer Kaushik Ray. “It’s also the people involved, the processes, and the governance that all address building cyber resilience.”