In 2024, AT&T became the face of corporate cybersecurity failure. Despite reporting $122 billion in revenue and nearly $20 billion in pretax profits, the company cut corners where it mattered most: security. In an attempt to streamline costs, AT&T trusted sensitive customer data to a third-party provider without enforcing essential protections like multi-factor authentication (MFA).

Whatever security initiative you’re focused on—patching systems, reviewing controls, running audits—put it on hold for a second. Because if you’re not doing this one thing, none of the rest will matter. What’s your most important job as a vCSO? Is it making sure compliance requirements are met? Is it reviewing security tools and policies? Responding to the latest cyber threats?