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CISO / Cybersecurity Department Annual Calendar
Comprehensive Security Lifecycle Activities
Quarter One (Q1)
January
- Annual risk assessment and strategy planning
- Update security policies and procedures
- Review and update incident response plan
- Assess regulatory compliance requirements
- Set annual security goals and KPIs
- Evaluate cybersecurity insurance needs
February
- Conduct comprehensive security awareness training
- Perform vulnerability scanning and remediation
- Review and update access control policies
- Evaluate and enhance insider threat program
- Update security metrics dashboard
- Assess and improve supply chain security
March
- Conduct external penetration testing
- Review and update disaster recovery plan
- Evaluate and optimize security tool stack
- Conduct vendor security assessments
- Review and enhance patch management process
- Assess cloud security posture and controls
Quarter Two (Q2)
April
- Quarterly review of security metrics and KPIs
- Conduct phishing simulation and awareness campaign
- Review and optimize SIEM rules and alerts
- Assess OT/ICS security (if applicable)
- Evaluate AI/ML security implications and controls
- Review and update data privacy compliance measures
May
- Review and enhance third-party risk management
- Update business continuity plan
- Conduct security architecture review
- Evaluate and optimize data loss prevention (DLP)
- Review and update encryption standards
- Assess and improve mobile device security
June
- Conduct mid-year policy compliance audit
- Perform tabletop exercise for incident response
- Review and optimize cloud security controls
- Assess and improve DevSecOps practices
- Evaluate and enhance security awareness program
- Review and optimize container security
Quarter Three (Q3)
July
- Quarterly review of security metrics and KPIs
- Update and refine threat intelligence processes
- Mid-year security budget review and planning
- Assess and enhance AI/ML security measures
- Review and optimize identity and access management
- Evaluate security automation opportunities
August
- Conduct focused security awareness training
- Review and update data classification policies
- Assess emerging threats and update defenses
- Evaluate and enhance container security
- Review and optimize network segmentation
- Assess IoT security (if applicable)
September
- Review and update incident response procedures
- Conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessment
- Update long-term security roadmap
- Assess and enhance mobile device management
- Review and update security training curriculum
- Evaluate zero trust architecture implementation
Quarter Four (Q4)
October
- Quarterly review of security metrics and KPIs
- Conduct Cybersecurity Awareness Month activities
- Review and enhance data privacy compliance measures
- Assess and mitigate social media security risks
- Review and enhance digital forensics capabilities
- Evaluate blockchain security (if applicable)
November
- Perform annual penetration testing
- Review and enhance security training program
- Assess and improve IoT security measures
- Evaluate and implement security automation
- Review and update crisis communication plan
- Assess quantum computing security implications
December
- Conduct year-end security posture review
- Develop security strategy and roadmap for next year
- Facilitate lessons learned sessions
- Review and adjust security KPIs for next year
- Perform year-end policy and compliance review
- Finalize budget and resource planning for next year
Key Ongoing Activities:
- Continuous security monitoring and threat hunting
- Regular security committee meetings
- Threat intelligence gathering and analysis
- Incident response readiness and simulations
- Regulatory compliance monitoring and reporting
- Collaboration with business units on security initiatives
- Continuous security awareness and phishing simulations
- Vulnerability management and patch prioritization
- Asset inventory and management
- Third-party risk monitoring
Adapt this calendar to your organization’s specific needs, industry regulations, and risk profile. Adjust the timing of activities based on your fiscal year if it differs from the calendar year.