CONCLUSION

Strategic controls assurance

The CISOs guide to action for 2026

CISOs and their teams have always grappled with new threats and shifting regulations. But what’s new is the sheer pace of change.

Many believe AI will completely alter the threat landscape in less than five years. Add this to anticipated new and updated regulations against a tighter economic backdrop, which is fuelling a desire for more internal oversight, and it’s created the perfect resourcing storm.

Strengthening cyber resilience (49%) and improving cloud security (40%) are top priorities for CISOs over the coming twelve months – but cybersecurity is a strategic enabler, not just tactical defense. Board-level risk reporting (24%), efficiency initiatives (23%), and leveraging automation (28%) will also form key initiatives for the most strategic cybersecurity leaders.

CISO priorities for 2026

Cybersecurity leaders increasingly need solutions that scale, educate leadership, and leverage automation and AI where talent is scarce.

Automated, aligned, and insightful controls monitoring, assurance, and reporting is one clear way to adapt. By automating data collection and aligning analysis against business context, teams save thousands of hours a month, can make better, more informed decisions, and become the strategic business enablers they need to be.

The roadmap to automated controls assurance includes:

Collate and cleanse your data:

Consolidate visibility across the security estate with a single, unified view

Test the basics at all times:

Modernize controls monitoring with automation

Automate audit evidence:

Reduce compliance overhead with automated, ongoing reporting

Rapidly evolve defensive posture:

Use AI-powered solutions that combine technology and human analysis

Translate technical data to business risk:

Make risk clear to business leaders through actionable reporting

Agree CCM improves compliance and risk management

Almost all CISOs surveyed believe a Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM) approach improves both compliance and risk management. 8 out of 10 cybersecurity leaders are making continuous controls assurance a near-term priority for 2026.

CCM provides a comprehensive view of how all your cyber controls are performing at any one time. By collating data from across your organization, and not just your cybersecurity tools, you have access to the data you need to closely monitor performance, reduce audit prep time, and make informed, strategic decisions that translate to business objectives.

Panaseer supports every step of the 2026 continuous controls assurance roadmap, from automated controls monitoring and reporting to actionable, contextualized business insight.

Understand how to apply a CCM approach to your organization by speaking to our team. We’ve been developing CCM programs for over ten years and can advise on the right steps for your organization.

And if you want to see the Panaseer platform in action, book a demo today.

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