CISOs: The Ultimate Stress Test With Jill Knesek
Easy Prey12 Helmi 2025

CISOs: The Ultimate Stress Test With Jill Knesek

The CISO role is constantly changing. With all the shifts in cybersecurity, it's crucial to find ways to attract new talent to close the growing skills gap. CISOs now juggle complex systems managed at multiple levels and handle burnout amongst many other responsibilities.

Today's guest is Jill Knesek. Jill is the Chief Information Security Officer for Blackline, a company that does financial SaaS solutions. It's based out of the Los Angeles area. She's been there almost three years now as the CISO, running the information security team.

She previously served as Chief Security Officer for BT Global Services. She has more than 15 years' experience directing security programs, including service as a special agent for the FBI assigned to the Cyber Crime Squad in Los Angeles Field Office, where she was involved in several high-profile cases, including Kevin Mitnick.

In this episode, we cover the CISO role evolving from low visibility to a C-level position, managing multi-cloud infrastructures and aligning with other teams and the ongoing cybersecurity skills gap and burnout. Jill also talks about incident response and crisis management and collaboration within the cybersecurity community to fill the blind spots and strengthen the defenses.

Show Notes:
  • [01:23] She's now the Chief Information Security Officer for Blackline, a company that does financial SaaS solutions.
  • [02:00] She was also an FBI special agent for 3 and 1/2 years working cybercrime. She was super excited, because this was her lifelong dream.
  • [03:35] She loved the FBI, but she knew she could do more for the industry on the private side.
  • [04:21] Jill talks about how the CISO role has evolved. It's now a C-level position.
  • [06:26] Some of the boards were very interested in what was going on with security. There has to be a balance with funding and proving your success.
  • [07:39] Now complexity is an issue.
  • [09:03] The cloud adds so many connecting services.
  • [11:45] CISOs are getting more responsibility and need more qualified people in their teams. There's a gap with not enough people coming into the cybersecurity industry.
  • [12:30] How the idea of stress and working nights and weekends can deter some graduates from the cybersecurity industry.
  • [15:15] Boards and executive committees expect the CISO to be right in the middle of things. They want real-time updates and to know what everyone is working on right now.
  • [17:47] The importance of keeping a calm level-headed view when something goes wrong.
  • [21:41] We learn about the flow of straightening out curves or incidents. Learn during the small incidents and practice the process.
  • [23:57] The importance of not scolding the team for being too quick to react. It's better to have a false alarm than to ignore a serious problem.
  • [25:10] Jill does a one-to-one with everyone on her team each quarter. She tries to Mentor them with some of the things that she's learned.
  • [30:29] We hear about a couple of incidents where ransomware got into the environment.
  • [35:01] When someone else reported that something weird was going on in the network.
  • [38:27] To help with the talent gap, we need to start introducing cybersecurity at the high school level.
  • [42:15] It's important for CISOs to be connected with other groups and events.

Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.

Links and Resources:

Jaksot(321)

Art Heists

Art Heists

The world of art theft looks glamorous in the movies, but the reality is far more complicated. From multi-million dollar forgery schemes to undercover FBI operations recovering stolen national treasur...

29 Huhti 37min

The Power of Prediction

The Power of Prediction

We make predictions all the time including about the weather, about traffic, about what someone is going to say next. It feels natural, even rational. But when algorithms start making predictions abou...

22 Huhti 39min

Privacy vs Reality

Privacy vs Reality

Online security advice often sounds simple until you actually try to follow it. Between password managers, privacy settings, and data brokers, protecting yourself can start to feel like a full-time jo...

15 Huhti 58min

Wired to Trust

Wired to Trust

It's easy to think scams only work when someone misses something obvious. In reality, most of them don't look obvious at the start. They show up as normal situations with just enough friction to notic...

8 Huhti 41min

Intimate Partner Fraud

Intimate Partner Fraud

Most scams leave a digital trail. A fake email, a spoofed number, a fraudulent website. You can trace them, report them, sometimes even reverse them. But what happens when the scam has no digital trai...

1 Huhti 45min

Identity without Passwords

Identity without Passwords

Every day, employees at hotels, restaurants, and resorts across the country are doing exactly what they were hired to do: being warm, responsive, and eager to help. It's what makes hospitality work. I...

25 Maalis 38min

When Cybercrime Gets Personal

When Cybercrime Gets Personal

Most security breaches don't begin with sophisticated code or elaborate technical exploits. They begin with a phone call, a convincing email, or someone at a help desk who just wanted to be helpful. T...

18 Maalis 45min

Stopping Phone Scams

Stopping Phone Scams

Phone scams get dismissed as background noise or just annoying interruptions and unknown numbers with robotic voices we learn to ignore. But behind that noise is an industry built on psychology, autom...

11 Maalis 45min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
aikalisa
politiikan-puskaradio
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
tervo-halme
rss-podme-livebox
aihe
rss-ulkopoditiikkaa
viisupodi
rss-pinnalla
the-ulkopolitist
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
rss-asiastudio
radio-antro
rss-tasta-on-kyse-ivan-puopolo-verkkouutiset
otetaan-yhdet
rss-mina-ukkola
rss-polikulaari-pitka-kiekko-ja-muut-ts-podcastit