Chief Legal Officers step up in cybersecurity oversight

In this Help Net Security video, Jennifer Chen, Executive Director of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Foundation, discusses how globally, Chief Legal Officers (CLOs) are becoming integral leaders in cybersecurity strategy, holding leadership positions, and frequently reporting cybersecurity strategies to the company board.

According to the ACC Foundation, the findings highlight a significant shift in how cybersecurity is viewed through a legal and governance lens.

Key findings include:

• Half of CLOs (50%) are part of teams with cybersecurity responsibilities, even if they do not hold a formal leadership role.
• Most organizations (93%) include someone from the legal department on the incident response team. The CLO is part of that team in 73% of cases.
• 38% of CLOs now hold a leadership role in cybersecurity, up from 15% in 2020.
• 32% of organizations have at least one dedicated cyber lawyer, compared to 18% in 2020.
• CLOs cited phishing, social engineering, data breaches, ransomware, fraud, and lack of awareness as key AI-driven cyber threats.