The CISO Playbook

• Utgivningsdatum: 2026-10-22
• Mått: 178 x 254 x 21 mm
• Vikt: 750 g
• Format: Inbunden
• Språk: Engelska
• Serie: Security, Audit and Leadership Series
• Antal sidor: 28
• Förlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd
• ISBN: 9781041200550

• Ledarskap och motivation
• IT-säkerhet
• Nätverk och kommunikation

Andres Andreu is currently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Constella Intelligence, a 4X Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), and a renowned cybersecurity leader. He holds prestigious credentials including CISSP and ISSAP and is a Boardroom Certified Qualified Technology Expert (QTE). With a diverse career traversing federal government, corporate sectors, and entrepreneurial ventures in cybersecurity, he is a mentor, start-up advisor, and an acclaimed author.His government tenure includes a significant impact in lawful intercept technology within federal law enforcement, earning three U.S. Department of Justice awards for his contributions to drug law enforcement. Transitioning to the corporate realm, Andres made a mark at Ogilvy & Mather as a partner and Chief Application Architect, later consulting for high-profile entities like the United Nations. As a founding member and key executive at Bayshore Networks (acquired by Opswat in 2021) and cybersecurity leader at Constella Intelligence, 2U, Inc./edX, and Hearst, his expertise has been pivotal in shaping varying cybersecurity landscapes.Andreu’s leadership and innovative approaches have garnered him accolades such as a Top 100 CISO (C100) by Security Current, Top 50 Information Security Professional, and recognition in leading industry publications. His experience encompasses both offensive and defensive cybersecurity strategies, underpinned by a philosophy that balances executive and employee objectives.Author of The CISO Playbook, Professional Pen Testing Web Applications, and contributor to 97 Things Every Application Security Professional Should Know, his work extends beyond writing to inventing, with patents in cybersecurity innovations. He is also an active member of the Forgepoint Capital Cybersecurity Advisory Council.A Cuban immigrant and proud American citizen, Andres balances his professional achievements with a happy marriage and four wonderful kids. He is an international level certified Judo coach with USA Judo and an artist. Andreu’s multifaceted career and personal achievements highlight his profound impact on the cybersecurity field and beyond.Hector Monsegur, known globally online as “Sabu,” is one of the most infamous names in the history of hacking. As the driving force behind the legendary hacking collective LulzSec, an offshoot of Anonymous, he spearheaded high-profile breaches against Sony Pictures, PBS, Fox.com, and multiple government systems. His campaigns during the early 2010s redefined the scale and spectacle of cyber intrusions, making him a symbol of the hacker underground and a pivotal figure in the evolution of digital security.After his arrest in 2011, Monsegur shocked the world by cooperating with U.S. federal authorities, helping to disrupt major planned cyberattacks and prevent untold damage. This unexpected turn gave him rare insight into both sides of the cybersecurity battlefield – the tactics of hackers and the mechanisms of law enforcement. His transformation from blackhat to security insider is a story of redemption and reinvention, steeped in controversy, credibility, and unmatched real-world experience.Today, Hector is Chief Research Officer at SafeHill, a cutting-edge cybersecurity research firm dedicated to protecting organizations from the kinds of threats he once unleashed. SafeHill’s services include elite penetration testing and its flagship threat exposure management platform, SafeHill SecureIQ, which enables businesses to identify, prioritize, and eliminate vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them. Under his leadership, SafeHill is quickly earning a reputation as a disruptive force in the cybersecurity industry.Beyond his work at SafeHill, Monsegur is an accomplished co-author, adjunct professor, and sought-after keynote speaker. He brings his signature edge and authenticity to classrooms, conferences, and boardrooms alike, training professionals and students to think like hackers while defending like strategists. His experience bridges underground hacking culture and enterprise-level security operations, making him one of the few experts who truly understands the full spectrum of cyber risk.

The CISO Playbook: The Adversarial Mindset offers a compelling, practical contribution to contemporary cybersecurity leadership. Andres Andreu and Hector Monsegur combine executive insight with adversarial experience to show how security leaders can anticipate hostile behavior, strengthen organizational resilience, and make better decisions under uncertainty. Their central argument is clear: effective defense depends on understanding how adversaries think, what they seek to achieve, and how they exploit both technical weaknesses and organizational habits. One of the book's strengths is its integration of human behavior and operational security. The authors examine attacker motivations alongside the cognitive biases that influence defenders, prompting readers to question assumptions, recognize predictable responses, and sharpen their judgment. This approach gives the work relevance beyond technical cybersecurity, connecting security practice with psychology, intelligence analysis, organizational behavior, and strategic leadership. The book translates these ideas into practical applications through discussions of red teaming, cyber deception, threat intelligence, and incident response. Its case studies and adversarial narratives illustrate how individual weaknesses can combine to create consequential attack paths. The emphasis on testing assumptions and coordinating defensive action makes the book especially useful for leaders tasked with turning security knowledge into measurable improvements. Another important contribution is its treatment of the CISO as an enterprise risk leader. The authors link operational security to business continuity, financial exposure, executive accountability, and institutional trust. They urge security professionals to communicate in ways that enable informed decisions by boards and senior management. This perspective strengthens the relationship between cybersecurity programs and the organizations they serve.Prof.dr Darko TRIFUNOVIĆ, DirectorInstitute for National and International Security-INISA security program can look good on paper and still leave people unprepared when a difficult decision needs to be made. The CISO Playbook: The Adversarial Mindset gets into that territory. Andres Andreu and Hector Monsegur challenge leaders to look at their programs through an attacker’s eyes, including the assumptions, slow decisions, and gaps between teams that can leave an organization exposed. The discussions around cognitive bias and red teaming give leaders useful questions to bring back to their teams. Who has the authority to act? Can someone challenge a decision without being shut down? Have we practiced how we will respond when things don’t go according to plan? Those conversations are much easier to have before an incident forces them on us.The book’s strongest contribution is connecting that adversarial perspective to the everyday responsibility of leading a security program. Testing response and recovery, making ownership clear, and checking that a threat has actually been removed are practical habits that matter far more than how many tickets we close. Some sections revisit familiar ground, and I would approach the more ambitious AI claims with a critical eye. Even so, this is a worthwhile book for CISOs and other security leaders who want to challenge their assumptions and have better conversations about readiness. There is useful material here to work through with a team, especially if the goal is to turn discussion into better decisions.Kevin L. McLaughlin, PhDHaving spent much of my career in enterprise security architecture and CISO roles, I've become increasingly frustrated with how our industry measures security effectiveness. We continue to invest in technology, implement frameworks, and assess compliance, yet organizations still struggle with many of the same problems. I think part of the reason is that we've become very good at describing what security should look like without always understanding how it actually performs when challenged. Andres and Hector approach this problem from the adversary's perspective. Their argument is that security leaders need to understand the motivations and behavior of the people they're defending against. I agree with that, although I think the real value of the book comes from examining how attackers exploit the assumptions we make about our own organizations. The combination of Andres's enterprise security leadership experience and Hector's background in offensive operations works well. The case studies and adversarial anecdotes provide some interesting insight into how attackers approach their objectives and why conventional defensive thinking can fall short. I particularly liked the discussion around cognitive bias and decision-making. It's an area that deserves more attention because our own assumptions about how security works can become vulnerabilities themselves. From an architecture perspective, I've always believed that understanding dependencies is fundamental to understanding risk. Attackers look for opportunities. I've seen organizations with reasonably mature security programs struggle because the individual components of their security architecture weren't working together as expected. The authors' discussion of red teaming reinforces why testing those relationships matters. Understanding how an attacker thinks is certainly valuable, but I've seen organizations that understood their threats and still couldn't make the necessary decisions to address them. Knowing what needs to happen doesn't mean the business is capable of implementing the necessary changes. I've come to believe that many of our cybersecurity problems are actually organizational problems. We continue to manage security, risk, compliance, and operations through separate functions, each with its own priorities and measures of success. An adversary has no reason to respect those boundaries. I think the adversarial mindset Andres and Hector describe is an important part of addressing this. The AI discussion is also timely. I found the examination of autonomous adversaries particularly interesting because it raises questions about our own use of AI in defensive operations. We can certainly automate more decisions and accelerate response, but I remain concerned about how organizations establish authority and accountability for those decisions. The book does address rules of engagement and measures for evaluating autonomous actions, which I appreciated. This will become an increasingly important responsibility for CISOs as AI moves further into operational decision-making. I also agree with the authors' position that the CISO needs to become more of an enterprise risk leader. I've advocated for that evolution for years. My concern is that organizations often expect CISOs to assume broader responsibility without changing the governance structures that limit their influence. We can encourage security leaders to think differently, but unless the organization changes how decisions are made, we're only solving part of the problem. I enjoyed the book because it challenges some of the assumptions that have shaped cybersecurity for years. There's useful material here for experienced CISOs, security architects, and those moving into leadership roles. Andres and Hector ask security leaders to better understand the people and systems working against them. The practical examples give readers something they can apply, particularly around adversary emulation and incident response. Patrick M. HayesAuthor, Speaker, & AdvisorIntegrated Assurance LLC.The CISO Playbook: The Adversarial Mindset stands out because it was written by someone who was actually on the other side. Hector Monsegur’s background isn’t a marketing angle — it’s what makes the book’s perspective credible. The core argument is simple and correct: defenders can’t win if they don’t understand who they’re up against. The foreword by HUMINT practitioner Oriane Cohen frames it perfectly — cybersecurity is a human war, and most of the industry has forgotten how to read humans.What makes it practically useful is that the adversarial thinking never stays theoretical. The anecdotes feel real, the AI threat chapters are ahead of most current literature, and the Ransomware IR Playbook in the appendix is immediately usable. For security leaders who are done with compliance-driven narratives and want to actually think like their adversaries, this is the book.Lade YashwanthCybersecurity Professional | CEH, CCSK, ISO 27001 Lead Auditor

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