12 Jun Forbes Names America’s Most Cybersecure Companies 2023. Intel Ranked No. 1.

List of 200 top U.S. brands and their CISOs

– Steve Morgan, Editor-in-Chief

Sausalito, Calif. – Jun. 12, 2023

To find the companies doing the best job locking down their data and networks, Forbes has produced its first-ever list of America’s Most Cybersecure Companies in partnership with SecurityScorecard.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel Corporation is ranked No. 1.

Intel’s mission is to shape the future of technology to help create a better future for the entire world. By pushing forward in fields like AI, analytics and cloud-to-edge technology, Intel’s work is at the heart of countless innovations. From major breakthroughs like self-driving cars and rebuilding the coral reefs, to things that make everyday life better like blockbuster effects and improved shopping experiences — they’re all powered by Intel technology.

Brent Conran, Intel’s chief information security officer, in an interview with Cisco, said that since 1995 he’s done nothing but information security.

Before that, Conran’s boss at the time said, “You’re a talented programmer. Why are you going to throw your career away doing information security?” Conran knew better, and he went on to have an impressive career including holding the positions of CIO and CISO at the U.S. House of Representatives, and chief security officer at McAfee, prior to joining Intel in Mar. 2015.

Protecting against the threats we know today isn’t enough, experts say. The field of cybersecurity constantly changes, and there need to be more specialists to go around, Conran says, claiming that millions of such jobs are unfilled right now, according to Cybersecurity Ventures.

Aleksandr Yampolskiy, CEO of SecurityScorecard, says the first defense against these threats is to have an internal company structure where one person oversees cybersecurity — with that person at the organization’s highest levels. Just as “Chief Information Officer” and “Chief DEI Officer” have entered the corporate vernacular over the years, “Chief Information Security Officer” (CISO) is the most common name for the cybersecurity role. Yampolskiy says that only 30 percent of the companies considered for the Forbes list have someone in that position.

“Somebody needs to be a quarterback and a culture champion for driving cybersecurity hygiene,” he says. “If responsibility is shared between multiple people, it’s not a person at a high enough level.”

America’s Most Cybersecure Companies ranks the top 200 U.S.-based businesses whose website security and cybersecurity infrastructure make them best-in-class.

– Steve Morgan is founder and Editor-in-Chief at Cybersecurity Ventures.

Go here to read all of my blogs and articles covering cybersecurity. Go here to send me story tips, feedback and suggestions.