Cloud Security Alliance Announces CxO Trust Initiative to Elevate Cloud and Cybersecurity Knowledge Among Executives

Exclusive global community, publicly available research and education are features of program

SEATTLE – May 18, 2021 – The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications, and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, today announced the CSA CxO Trust, a first-of-a-kind initiative that will bring together a community of C-suite executives to evolve cloud and cybersecurity understanding, knowledge, and needed solutions in response to enterprise challenges.

Aimed at C-level leaders from various industry sectors with a vested interest in the successful evolution of cloud infrastructures and other related services, the CSA CxO Trust will spearhead, shape, and influence related security mappings and benchmarks. The leaders will also work together to develop practical privacy and governance models, training and certificate programs, mentorship and hiring best practices, wider regulatory/legislative programs, and product and services development. The program will have capabilities that are the hallmark of CSA: freely available community-driven research, timely education, and private collaboration among peers.

“We seek to improve the quality of the dialogue between CISOs, IT executives, other members of the C-Suite, and their respective boards of directors around the fundamental topics of cloud and cybersecurity. Cloud is now the top and enduring information technology priority. Who better than CSA to bring a fresh approach to providing the right data in the right context regarding cloud and cybersecurity to the boardroom?” said Jim Reavis, co-founder and CEO, Cloud Security Alliance. “A recent CSA survey found that 47 percent of organizations in the cloud are concerned about their staff’s lack of cloud expertise. Our belief is that a similar gap exists within leadership, and we intend to address it.”

Eventually compartmentalized by vertical market and region, the CSA CxO Trust will guide research initiatives, use-cases, sector-specific service provider surveys/needs, templates, benchmarks, and more. Additionally, the group will also seek to influence and guide the codification of cloud expertise needed in organizations today.

“We have interviewed a large number of CISOs and other C-level stakeholders about their pain points in preparation for this initiative and are identifying common themes, such as managing third-party risk, effective board presentations, cloud compliance, and quantifying the value of cybersecurity to the business. CSA’s access to a strong, well-rooted community of C-level leaders from different sectors will help to drive solutions for these pain points,” said CSA President Illena Armstrong.

A fundamental research whitepaper for this initiative will be our regularly updated Top Cloud Priorities for CxOs. A preliminary list of priorities has been developed and is available for download here. It will be used as a foundation for the CSA CxO Trust Working Group, which will commence in Q3 2021.

The first phase of the program will see the establishment of the CxO Trust Advisory Council. Composed of C-level executives from CSA corporate members, the group will be called upon to contribute to and advise on the overall strategy and roadmap of this broad-based program’s offerings. In addition to guiding the CxO Trust and its related offerings, the Council also will be asked to help steer the aforementioned Working Group. Those interested in participating in the CxO Trust Advisory Council are asked to contact Illena Armstrong at [email protected] or visit http://cloudsecurityalliance.org/cxo-trust for more information.

About Cloud Security Alliance
The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment. CSA harnesses the subject matter expertise of industry practitioners, associations, governments, and its corporate and individual members to offer cloud security-specific research, education, training, certification, events, and products. CSA's activities, knowledge, and extensive network benefit the entire community impacted by cloud — from providers and customers to governments, entrepreneurs, and the assurance industry — and provide a forum through which different parties can work together to create and maintain a trusted cloud ecosystem. For further information, visit us at www.cloudsecurityalliance.org, and follow us on Twitter @cloudsa.