Cybersecurity In-Depth: Feature articles on security strategy, latest trends, and people to know. Mission-Driven Security: Inside a Global Bank's Defense In this video interview, Standard Chartered's group CISO shares insights on transitioning from technical roles to strategic leadership, the importance of business-savvy security executives, and how AI is reshaping both defensive capabilities and adversarial tactics in banking. In an era where cyber threats evolve at breakneck speed and financial institutions remain prime targets for sophisticated adversaries, the role of the chief information security officer (CISO) has never been more critical — or more complex. Cezary Piekarski, group CISO at global bank Standard Chartered, is helping shape the modern security executive: part technology expert, part business strategist, and part cultural architect. His journey from early tinkering to leading cybersecurity for a global banking institution offers insight into how technical expertise can evolve into strategic leadership. In this interview for Dark Reading's Heard It From a CISO series, Piekarski shares his unwavering belief that successful cybersecurity isn't built on technology alone, but on mission-driven teams united by a shared purpose. In an industry where sleepless nights come with the territory, he's learned to "worry productively" — channeling the anxiety that comes with the job into action that protects clients, colleagues, and the broader financial ecosystem. Through his approach, Piekarski argues that executives who exist in the space between technology and business must be executives who understand commercial trade-offs, technology visionaries who shape strategic direction, and cultural influencers who embed security consciousness throughout their organizations. This is especially the case as artificial intelligence reshapes both defensive capabilities and threat landscapes, obviously. Piekarski sees its rise not as a job-killing disruption but an evolution that demands new skills; and one that likely will draw in more people to cybersecurity. His vision for the future