Whether it's phishing, ransomware, data breaches, a shortage of skilled staff, or communicating with users, internal business colleagues and the C-suite, IT security executives have a lot to worry about.

In our next Dark Reading Radio show, Wednesday, August 17 at 1:00 p.m. EDT/10:00 a.m. PDT, we’ll take a look at recent survey data – including results from the annual 2016 Black Hat Attendee Survey -- with (ISC)² Chief Executive Officer David Shearer in a discussion about issues that are causing security professionals to lose their well-earned sleep.

Before taking the helm at (ISC)², our featured speaker served as associate CIO for International Technology Services at the US Department of Agriculture, deputy CIO at the US Department of the Interior, and the executive for architecture, engineering and technical services at the US Patent and Trademark Office.

At (ISC)², he is responsible for the overall direction and management of the organization and its Center for Cyber Safety and Education

Among the issues and trends we’ll be discussing Wednesday:

Security Readiness: According to the Black Hat 2016 survey, 72% of respondents believe it’s “likely” their organizations will face a major breach in the next 12 months and 70% believe they don’t have enough people, budget, or training to defend themselves against current threats.

Attack Trends:  Almost 60% of Black Hat survey respondents have experienced breaches through phishing or malware in the past year; 23% of respondent experienced a ransomware attack in the past year, and 17% identified a targeted attack

Cloud:  Among the most significant practical security trends identified by more than half of respondents to (ISC)² ’s co-sponsored Cloud Security Spotlight Report were issues involving unauthorized access via misuse of employee credentials and improper access controls.

Security Skills Shortage. According to the Black Hat survey, 74% of respondents say they do not have enough staff to defend their organizations against current threats.

State of industry security practices. In the Black Hat survey, respondents reported that the most common security practices are strong passwords, virus detection, and end-user awareness training. But newer practices such as DevOps for tighter application security and forensics/advanced threat practices are much less prevalent.

Are these issues keeping you up at night? What else is causing you to lose sleep? I hope you'll join our show this Wednesday, and bring your personal insights and opinions to the conversation. You can post your comments and questions below or take them with you to the Dark Reading Radio studio on Wednesday, where you can participate directly through online chat. Please note, you’ll need to register for the broadcast to participate.

I look forward to seeing you there. But if you can't make it, please check out the broadcast and live chat from our Dark Reading Radio archive.

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