Know the budget process to increase your odds of getting your budget approved. A recent Ponemon Institute study found that 53% of the study’s participants found their organization’s budget process too complex. It also found that in the participant’s organizations, only 18% had the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) responsible for the IT security budget. If you don’t understand the process and don’t have control of your budget request, how can you effectively present your case for funding? Security professionals tend to think in terms of threats, vulnerabilities, and mitigation. Their organizations’ budget process focuses on market share, revenue growth, cost control, investments, and earnings. If you aren’t speaking the same language, your chances of getting your initiatives approved are greatly diminished. This session provides some tips on “how to play the game” and use your organization’s budget process appropriately and improve the odds that your initiatives will be approved. Objectives for this session include: • Increasing the audience’s understanding on how business strategy drives the budget • Understanding of where a security initiative fits on the financial statements • The importance of knowing your audience in each phase of the budget process • How to tie your security initiative to the organization’s business strategy and financial objectives.