Security Isn’t a Department, It’s How You Operate

When growing companies decide to “get serious” about security, the instinct is to put someone in charge, give them a title, and make it official.

It feels like the right move, but it’s also where many security programs stall. That’s because when security gets boxed into one role, the rest of the organization disengages. 

The Silo Problem

We see three common paths for that first security hire:

1. The Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) path: A compliance-minded manager, sometimes reporting into Legal or the CIO, is tasked with wrangling the organization into SOC 2 readiness and managing the audit;
2. The IT path: A conscientious IT lead is “promoted” into security responsibilities with a focus on IT hygiene and corporate systems (identity management, phishing, endpoint protection) but doesn’t push into products and engineering, or; 
3. The Engineering path:  A curious DevOps or development engineer is tasked with remediating compliance findings and establishing basic cloud and dev pipeline controls disconnected from the rest of the company. 

These are different paths but the result is the same: one person owns security within a silo, while the rest of the organization continues to stand back. This is often where many security programs stall or, in the case of a GRC path without sufficient cross-functional support, even collapse under their own weight. 

Why? Because security can’t live in a silo. It has to be woven into how your organization operates every day and across functions.

We covered this dynamic from a different angle in Hiring a CISO Won’t Magically Fix Security. Create Executive Alignment First. The main takeaway is that isolating security into one department makes it easier for everyone else to step back.

Embedding Security Into Daily Operations

Security shouldn’t be viewed as a standalone department, but rather intentionally designed into daily operations. When security becomes part of the operational blueprint, every team plays an important role:

• Product & engineering design and build controls into pipelines, products and platforms.
• Operations adjusts processes to close gaps without slowing down delivery.
• Legal & compliance create policies that reflect both regulatory needs and business and technical capabilities.
• Executive leadership participates directly in security governance, identifying and prioritizing risks, and shaping priorities.
• Security & GRC practitioners apply their expertise to facilitate, support and coordinate all  of the above teams and activities.

Breaking down a silo starts with making security a collective responsibility rather than a specialized role. When security decisions involve the people who will implement and follow them, you get practical solutions, fewer workarounds, and stronger adoption.

This is where Policies Without Culture Are Just PDFs rings true: security policies implemented for compliance's sake are rarely impactful. Even the most airtight policy won’t enable a company unless it’s built into the fabric of daily operations and aligned with business objectives. 

See How an Embedded Team Can Jumpstart Your Security Posture

Our model eliminates security silos from day one. We don’t just drop off policies for your company to figure out or advise from the sidelines. Our fractional CISOs have the experience and skillset to work with your executive team on strategy, risks and external communication, and start building the company’s security program and culture to make real resilience a reality. Our fractional security specialists can engage and assist directly in technical and operational design and management with your functional teams across engineering, IT and business operations.

Explore how to get started →