Growth, Risk Management, Culture: Why CISOs Operate Like CEOs | Bithal Bhardwaj, CEO, Gramax

10/11/2025 39 min
Growth, Risk Management, Culture: Why CISOs Operate Like CEOs | Bithal Bhardwaj, CEO, Gramax

Listen "Growth, Risk Management, Culture: Why CISOs Operate Like CEOs | Bithal Bhardwaj, CEO, Gramax"

Episode Synopsis

Bithal Bhardwaj, CEO at Gramax, spent over two decades as a cybersecurity leader across GE and GMR Group before making the leap to CEO. In this conversation, he reveals why the transition was surprisingly seamless, shares war stories from managing a 48-hour coordinated attack on critical infrastructure, and explains why security vendors shouldn't rely on marketing jargon. 0:00 Making the leap from CISO to CEO15:13 "Contextualize cyber threats from a geography standpoint"23:35 Why crisis management must be muscle memory beyond just a document26:32 What seasoned CISOs look for in vendors33:16 Advice for CISOs who want to transition to a higher leadership role🔔 Follow Bithal and Aleksandra on:https://www.linkedin.com/in/bithal-bhardwaj-622a523/https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandra-melnikova-1012/🔥 Powered by SquareXDeployed as a lightweight extension, SquareX turns any browser, on any device, into a secure enterprise browser. Find out more about SquareX at https://hubs.la/Q03rPcbf0

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