Episode 332 Deep Dive: Emilio Escobar | The Modern CISO

In this episode, we sit down with Emilio Escobar, Chief Information Security Officer at Datadog, as he explores the evolving definition of the modern CISO and what it means to lead security programs in today’s technology-driven organisations. Emilio delves into the transition of CISOs from traditional audit and IT backgrounds to deeply technical and business-savvy leaders, emphasising the importance of being part of the C-suite and understanding both regulatory and technological risks. We discuss the growing need for CISOs to embrace failure as part of innovation, the increasing accountability and liability facing security leaders, and the shift in expectations as companies fine-tune their search for security executives with both operational expertise and business acumen. Emilio also shares his views on the “technical enough” debate within the industry, the potential splitting of the CISO role, and the value of fostering trust and adaptability in security leadership. Emilio Escobar is Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at observability and security company Datadog (NASDAQ: DDOG). With two decades of experience in Information Security and Compliance, Emilio has worked at large enterprises, medium-sized companies, and government organizations. Before Datadog, Emilio served as the VP of Information Security for Hulu, where he played a pivotal role in setting up key security functions. Prior to that, Emilio worked for PlayStation, where he built and ran the software security teams. Emilio’s unique approach to security and compliance has always prioritized partnerships and people—hiring the right talent to build the processes, procedures, and technologies that unite Security, Engineering, and Operations teams. Emilio holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Puerto Rico.