20 Leaders Who Built the CISO Era: 2 Decades of Change

Dark Reading, celebrating its 20th anniversary, has profiled 20 influential figures who shaped the modern cybersecurity landscape and the chief information security officer role. The list includes pioneers like Steve Katz who formalized the CISO position at Citicorp, security researchers like Dan Kaminsky and Troy Hunt, and controversial figures including Edward Snowden and convicted cybercriminal Albert Gonzalez, whose massive retail payment card breaches marked a turning point in how law enforcement treated cybercrime as organized business. The retrospective highlights how cybersecurity evolved from technical defense into a board-level concern encompassing business resilience, compliance, and corporate trust.