A Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is a top executive within a company with the primary task of protecting the company's systems and data from cyber-attacks. The CISO should have a thorough understanding of the company’s information security architecture, policies and procedures, as well as the vulnerabilities and capabilities of the company's information technology (IT). A CISO is accountable for managing and leading the organization's security operations. This is a part of incident response and recovery.