What if I told you that Security is here to help? (a.k.a. The 7 habits of Highly Effective Security Leaders)

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Presented at Insomnihack 2025 by

Sebastian Avarvarei

For a long time, Security has been seen as the adversary of the Business, something to overcome rather than rely on. This leads to the paradoxical situation of organizations hiring highly skilled InfoSec practitioners, but not leveraging them at their full potential. While the problem is not new, the ways to address it remain often empirical. In a case of “when you can’t beat them, join them”, I propose in this talk an approach based on one of the most influential business management books, Stephen Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. Elegant in their simplicity, these seven principles lend themselves neatly to InfoSec leadership as well, and offer a powerful framework for a systematic approach for reconciling Security with the Business.