How CISOs are approaching staffing diversity with DEI initiatives under pressure

Diversity can be an asset in keeping on top of the threat landscape

“In the end, a diverse, engaged cybersecurity team isn’t just the right thing to build — it’s critical to staying ahead in a rapidly evolving threat landscape,” he says. “To fellow CISOs, I’d say: Stay the course. The adversary landscape is global, and so our perspective should be as well. A commitment to DEI enhances resilience, fosters innovation, and ultimately strengthens our defenses against threats that know no boundaries.”

Nate Lee, founder and CISO at Cloudsec.ai, says that even if DEI isn’t a specific competitive advantage — although he thinks diversity in many shapes is — it’s the right thing to do, and “weaponizing it the way the administration has is shameful.”

“People want to work where they’re valued as individuals, not where diversity is reduced to checking boxes, but where leadership genuinely cares about fostering an inclusive environment,” he says. “The current narrative tries to paint efforts to boost people up as misguided and harmful, which to me is a very disingenuous argument.”