Retail and hospitality members: This one’s for you. At the heart of any membership organization is its members – and in an industry that’s as transformative as ours, we’re proud to do our part helping all of you make retail more secure. That’s why the RH-ISAC and its Engagement Committee launched the first annual Member Satisfaction Survey this fall, coinciding with the 2018 Retail Cyber Intelligence Summit. Our goals for the survey were simple: to establish a collective voice on behalf of our members to help guide direction for the future and ensure optimal value delivered to members.
The results, summarized in this post, were tremendously helpful. Your responses gave us added input to help validate future plans, consider new ideas and improve support. You also wowed us by showing us just how highly you value RH-ISAC membership – a whopping 93% would recommend membership to a peer. This is a powerful expression of our members’ commitment and loyalty, and along with other feedback, further served to remind us of how lucky we are to work with such a dedicated group of cybersecurity professionals. Thank you.
Now, on to the findings:
Respondents
The Core Member Survey received 82 individual responses. Strategic leaders comprised the majority of responses at 43%, with Security Ops/Mgmt the next majority group at 28%. Analysts represented 18% of respondents and 6% of respondents indicated responsibilities outside of the categories identified. Respondents represented 39 companies, or approximately 36% of Core members. This response rate is on par with other similar surveys conducted, and leaves room for us to capture feedback from even more members next year.
Member Engagement
We asked members to rate their own level of engagement as contributors in addition to their level of engagement relative to consuming intel and information provided. The results confirmed our assessment of engagement levels, showing that self-rated engagement as a recipient of information is a full point higher than engagement as a contributor.
Based on our measures, we know that approximately 43% of members actively share threat intelligence and a significantly higher number – more than 70% – benefit from participating in intelligence and best practice information sharing over email, chat, events, webinars, calls and other communication channels. For a membership that’s just under four years old, a 70% engagement is something to be proud of. That said, the RH-ISAC team is committed to gaining even more ground overcoming barriers to increase sharing in 2019.
Committee Engagement
Member-led Committees, Task Forces and Work Groups are a hallmark of the member-to-member collaboration and collective group work that moves the needle for cybersecurity professionals in retail collectively. Top scoring groups included the Securing Retail Alliance (SRA) and Intelligence Task Force (ITF). Shout out to all of the members who participate as Chairs and participants in these, and in our and Gaming and Hospitality Cybersecurity Alliance (GHCA), Fraud and Franchise Committees – your dedication makes these groups possible!
Value Proposition
With average scores just under the top of the range for excellence, strategic leaders feel that the RH-ISAC value proposition is clear, understood and delivered upon.
- Virtually every program, ranging from daily emails, webinars and the Summit, to listserv discussions, are mentioned as examples of significant value
- The Retail ISAC scores extremely well on timeliness, content relevance and content quality
Where do we go from here? Key findings and plans for 2019
While we were pleased with the results from this year’s survey, our top takeaways reinforced the commitment that the RH-ISAC has made to delivering on our “by member, for member” promise. As we turn the corner into 2019, you’ll see several significant improvements and additions that speak directly to your recommendations:
Focus on information sharing – we’ll continue to focus on the ways that we can overcome barriers to increase intel and information sharing participation. We’re also enhancing our programs and how we communicate so that you get the information that matters to you when you need it. Look for these membership enhancements in 2019:
- A new, standing quarterly discussion – How to maximize the value of your RH-ISAC member benefits – will be part of our 2019 Cyber Thursday line-up
- Intelligence Workshops: this series of events is back by popular demand and includes content carefully crafted by members – find a workshop near you at https://rhisac.org/event/
- New CISO invitational events: details at https://rhisac.org/event/
- Threat Intelligence Platform evaluation and enhancements to streamline and simplify how you share intelligence
We’ll celebrate this year’s wins, hear updates and dive deeper into 2019 plans during an upcoming virtual RH-ISAC Townhall. Be sure to mark your calendars for this session taking place Thursday, January 31st from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. pacific/3:00 – 4:00p.m. eastern, to learn more about plans for member working groups, events, programs and more.
The events calendar is already shaping up for 2019. Cyber Thursdays will be back, on the last Thursday of each month and additional webinars will be peppered in with more information you can use. If you haven’t already checked it out, you’ll find several workshops for members scheduled for 2019, including a GHCA Intelligence Workshop in February, and two additional intelligence workshops in the spring. The events calendar is located on the web at https://rhisac.org/event/ – register for Cyber Thursday webinars or find an upcoming event near you. And, don’t forget to the save the dates for the 2019 Retail Cyber Intelligence Summit in Denver – September 23-25.
The RH-ISAC’s most important benefit is sharing, and we look forward to 2019 and to facilitating greater sharing among all types and sizes of member organizations.
