CISO MindMap & Maturity - Part 1

CISO MindMap Overview

A few years ago, I came across the CISO MindMap, “What Security Professionals Really Do?”, developed by Rafeeq Rehman. It remains an excellent reference for cybersecurity practitioners, especially those in leadership roles. The MindMap is available publicly and continues to be updated as the field evolves.

Cybersecurity professionals often develop deep expertise in one or more domains, but may not have full visibility into the breadth, interdependencies, and nuances of the many other subdomains that make up a modern security program. The MindMap provides a comprehensive view of this landscape.

CISO MindMap 2025 https://rafeeqrehman.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CISO_MindMap_2025.pdf

Its scope is extensive and continues to expand, which makes it challenging for any individual to maintain operational proficiency across all areas. Additionally, each organization will exhibit both commonalities and distinct differences when mapped to this model. Certain subdomains may not apply if the underlying technologies are not in use; some responsibilities may fall under other IT or operational units such as HR or business operations; and in many environments, teams and individuals operate across multiple subdomains due to resource constraints or organizational design. Despite these variations, maintaining awareness of the full set of domains and subdomains is valuable.

Measuring Maturity

Many of these domains represent specialized disciplines that require years of focused experience to perform effectively. The intent of this article series is not to describe every domain and subdomain in detail—doing so would exceed the scope of even an encyclopedia. Instead, the objective is to highlight commonly used maturity models and frameworks across these areas, identify where maturity-measurement gaps exist, and explore where organizations may need to draw from multiple measurement methodologies or develop entirely new maturity models.

The following sections reference the domains presented in the 2025 CISO MindMap.

• Team Management

• Security Operations

  • Threat Prevention

  • Threat Detection

  • Incident Management

• Business Enablement

• Identity Management

• Governance

• Artificial Intelligence and GenAI

• Project Delivery Lifecycle

• Security Architecture

• Compliance & Audits

• Risk Management

• Automation & Analytics

• Remote work

• Security team Branding

• Legal