Every quarter, the CyberRisk Collaborative asks more than 2,200 CISOs and senior leaders a simple but powerful question: What’s really on your mind right now? The result is the CISO Top 10, a peer-sourced snapshot of the issues shaping both the technology stack and the executive agenda.
The Q3 2025 reports reveal a security landscape that’s shifting under pressure, where continuity planning, AI adoption, and personal accountability are rising fast, while once-dominant priorities like Zero Trust and governance are losing some ground.
Like the Billboard Hot 100 that inspired it, the CISO Top 10 doesn’t just rank the hits, it shows what’s moving up, sliding down, or breaking into the charts for the first time.
Q3 2025: Technology Meets Leadership
The dual lens of the Top 10, Technology and Executive Management, remains one of its greatest strengths. This quarter’s lists reveal a mix of enduring priorities, fresh entrants, and shifting momentum:
- Technology Top 10: Cloud security remains firmly at the top, joined by surging focus on AI/ML, data security, and application security. Meanwhile, long-standing pillars like Zero Trust and IAM are slipping, and new concerns, asset management and critical infrastructure security, make their debut.
- Executive Management Top 10: Crisis management and business continuity rise to the number-one spot, supported by increasing attention to data privacy and budget/resource allocation. But leadership development, security metrics, and even the role of the CISO are trending down. Most notably, personal liability returns to the list, signaling growing concern about individual accountability.
These lists aren’t hypothetical or analyst-driven, they’re distilled directly from peer conversations. That makes them a truer reflection of what matters today, not what someone predicted last year.
Why the Trends Matter
The trend markers in this quarter tell a deeper story:
- New Topics: Asset management, critical infrastructure security, and personal liability break into the Top 10. These are rising conversations CISOs can’t ignore, and for vendors, they’re opportunities to establish thought leadership in newly urgent and resurgent domains.
- Upward Trends: AI/ML, data security, application security, attack surface management, business continuity, data privacy, and budget/resource allocation are gaining momentum. If you’re operating in these spaces, your visibility and relevance are only increasing.
- Downward Trends: Zero Trust, vulnerability management, IAM, leadership development, strategic planning, and governance are still important, but slipping. CISOs still care, but they’re looking for sharper insights and differentiated value. This is the moment to refresh your message.
For security leaders, these trendlines provide validation. Yes, others are seeing the same shifts you are. For solution providers, they’re a map to relevance. Ignore them, and you risk talking past your audience.
From Insight to Action: Resource Toolkits
The reports are paired with the CyberRisk Collaborative’s Resource Toolkits which are practical playbooks and actionable templated created by CISOs, for CISOs. Whether it’s developing crisis response plans, operationalizing AI governance, or addressing board-level accountability, these toolkits transform insight into execution. This connection between community priorities and peer-built solutions is what makes the CISO Top 10 uniquely actionable. CISOs don’t have to start from scratch, they can tap into vetted, operational tools and focus on driving outcomes.
Why Marketers and Providers Should Pay Attention
For cybersecurity vendors, integrators, and service providers, the CISO Top 10 ranking is your cheat sheet to relevance. If your campaigns, events, and content aren’t aligned to these priorities, you’re leaving resonance on the table.
- If your space just broke into the list (like personal liability or critical infrastructure security), this is your chance to lead the conversation.
- If your area is trending upward (like AI/ML, continuity, or data privacy), momentum is on your side. Double down.
- If your area is trending downward (like Zero Trust or leadership development), it’s time to sharpen your story and stand out.
Remember: CISOs are signaling what they care about in their own words. Meeting them there is the first step in building trust, credibility, and lasting partnerships.
Stay Aligned, Stay Ahead
The Q3 CISO Top 10 is a forward-looking roadmap for the industry. Whether you’re a security leader shaping strategy or a provider supporting it, the question remains:
Are you aligning your work to what matters most right now?
The only way to answer confidently is by getting inside the CISO mindset.
Get in touch to access the full Q3 reports and see where your priorities align.
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