Earlier this week James McGovern told us about Ten Mistakes that CIOs consistently make that weaken enterprise security and really these all apply to CSOs as well. This list was so awesome that Chris Hoff followed later in the week heavily citing McGovern and then added on his own list. I highly encourage you to read and absorb both posts. These mistakes are mostly a result of either lazy or stale thinking so the real message here is that as an executive (in security or anywhere else), it is imperative to constantly reevaluate your position and move on when necessary. In other words, the take away here is that mental flexibility is key.

David Mortman is the CSO-in-Residence for Echelon One, LLC, where he is responsible for managing their research and analysis program. Previously, he was the CISO for Siebel Systems. David speaks regularly at RSA, Blackhat and Defcon amongst others and publishes the occasional op-ed in Information Security magazine.