These hacking groups are openly recruiting employees and paying for insider access. Their target list spans telecom, retail, tech, cloud, gaming, and BPO companies. The sophistication of their social engineering and the speed at which they exploit access continues to increase.

For many companies, the biggest risk is not just external attackers. It is the combination of human behavior, access sprawl, weak identity governance, and the absence of strong cultural reinforcement around security.

This raises an important question for all of us in the industry:

What steps are you taking inside your organization to reduce the risk of insider threats?

Are you doubling down on identity governance, monitoring privileged access, improving off-boarding processes, building stronger security awareness programs, or investing in tools that help detect unusual behavior across your environment?

Curious to hear how others are approaching this challenge and what is working well in your companies.

You can read the full article here: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/crowdstrike-catches-insider-feeding-information-to-hackers/

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What’s your take: should unmanaged devices ever touch corporate systems?

Read the full story on CSO Online:

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Read more about them here

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I was pleased to be quoted in the piece and wanted to share a few reflections on what these themes mean for my own work and for IT leadership more broadly.

1. From IT Projects to Business Transformation

The article highlights an important shift. We are not simply delivering IT projects. We are leading business transformation efforts that rely on technology to succeed. In my work at WHSmith, SoftBank Robotics, and Fast Retailing (Uniqlo), this distinction has been clear. Success is not measured by implementing a system. It is measured by how the business changes, how operations improve, and how growth accelerates.

2. Value Creation and Revenue Focus

CIOs are increasingly being evaluated on their ability to create value. The article notes that many organizations are now directing investment toward monetizing data and developing new digital revenue streams. For me, this shift reinforces the need to align all technology programs with measurable business outcomes, whether they involve new customer engagement channels, loyalty initiatives, or improved retail experiences.

3. Scaling AI for Real Impact

Impactful AI continues to rise on priority lists. The article suggests that the age of pilots is fading and CIOs are now concentrating on enterprise level adoption, governed data pipelines, and models tailored to specific use cases. In my experience, the foundation matters most. Data, pipelines, governance, and model discipline must come before the question of what can be automated or predicted next. Trust and value both depend on that groundwork.

4. AI Security and Governance

The potential of AI comes with new risks. Many CIOs are treating AI as a new security frontier that covers model transparency, vendor oversight, and adversarial threats. From my perspective, governance and security need to be part of the design from the beginning. They cannot be bolted on after momentum builds.

5. Enterprise Security

Security remains a constant priority. Even as innovation accelerates, strengthening the overall security posture continues to sit at the top of CIO agendas. This reinforces something I have believed throughout my career. No matter how forward leaning the roadmap is, the foundation must be strong. You cannot build advanced capabilities without protecting the core first.

6. Customer Experience (CX)

Improving customer experience remains a defining project area, and it frequently sits at the intersection of digital, operations, and culture. The article cites examples such as automated quoting, AI enabled support, and self service capabilities. In retail and F&B environments, I have seen that the technology used by store teams and customers is only as strong as the systems behind it. Real time data, analytics, integration, and reliable infrastructure matter just as much as the features that appear on a screen.

7. The IT Foundation

While emerging technologies receive much of the attention, the foundational elements remain essential. ERP modernization, cloud optimization, integration layers, and API strategies are still at the center of effective transformation. In my roles, ensuring that the foundation is stable and current has always been a priority. Innovation only scales when the core environment can support it.

8. IT Modernization

For many organizations, modernization is both the engine of change and the enabler. It often involves retiring legacy systems, introducing modern platforms, moving toward cloud first strategies, and enabling better scalability. The article includes a quote that captures this direction well:

“Retiring old legacy systems that are slowing us down, introducing modern solutions… everything we do will support our data initiatives and will give us the data we want for AI and allow us to scale and the business to grow.”

This reflects much of what I have focused on in large scale retail and global operations environments.

9. Reimagining IT for the Future

One of the most important shifts is a forward looking mindset. The focus is no longer on what the company needs today but on what it will need two, three, or five years from now. The article references my work in future proofing IT environments and improving scalability by implementing solutions that are efficient, flexible, and designed to support long term growth. This is central to the CIO role. We are not only supporting current operations. We are shaping the technology landscape that the business will rely on in the future.

My Reflections for IT Leaders

• Be strategic first. Projects should be framed around business impact, not technical activity.
• Align every initiative with a measurable outcome such as revenue growth, margin improvement, or customer experience.
• Build the foundation early. Innovation only succeeds when data, security, governance, and core systems are strong.
• Look ahead. Modular architectures, scalable operating models, and global flexibility are no longer optional for competitive organizations.
• Lead with confidence. CIOs are not simply maintaining the business. They are helping to reinvent it.

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While speaking with the reporter during her research for the article, I was struck by how consistently these priorities surface across industries. I was also quoted in the final piece, adding my perspective on how IT can better align with the business, but the broader insights from leaders across sectors make it well worth the read.

If you’re thinking about how the CIO role is evolving, here are a few ideas the article brings forward:

1. CEOs want IT to lead, not follow
Technology leaders are expected to directly influence revenue, customer experience, and operational excellence — not just support them.

2. AI needs to deliver real value
The shift from experimentation to practical, measurable outcomes is accelerating. CEOs want AI initiatives to solve real problems, not create new ones.

3. Balancing transformation and stability
Modernization efforts must coexist with the realities of legacy environments and day-to-day operational demands. It’s a tightrope every CIO knows well.

4. Security and resilience remain foundational
Economic and geopolitical pressures are pushing cybersecurity, regulatory readiness, and risk management further into the strategic spotlight.

These points mirror what I see in my own work and in discussions with other technology leaders. If you’re interested in how the CIO role is changing — and what’s being asked of us at the executive table — this article provides a clear snapshot of where things are heading.

You can read the full piece here:
https://www.cio.com/article/3982258/ceos-top-priorities-for-it-leaders-today.html

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It was an honor to be invited to this gathering and to hear the success stories and journeys of these incredible women. It was also inspiring to learn how the sponsors are empowering and supporting women in technology through various initiatives. The insights I gained were very encouraging and are exactly what is needed to increase the number of women in technology roles today, and into the future. While I was just an attendee this year, I am excited to see how I can contribute and support these efforts in the future.

Are you in Vegas this week for Black Hat? I’m attending several networking and after-party events and would love to connect with my network. Additionally, we are actively recruiting for our IT team, specifically, we have three open roles in our Information Security team. If you or anyone you know may be interested, please DM me. Come join a growing team of technology superstars!

John Varcho Vaishali Gupte Robert Sellinger Giuseppe Greco FC . Dustin Dragotto

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