DR. MANSUR HASIB

GLOBAL AWARD WINNING EDUCATION LEADER, AUTHOR, AND KEYNOTE SPEAKER

NOTE: Dr. Hasib's seminal course on Cybersecurity Leadership and Governance is available for licensing by any college, university, or training organization in the world. This is a much needed course in any MBA program. Modernize your curriculum and join game changing institutions globally to add this much needed course to your institution's offerings. This course can replace existing leadership and ethics courses within any program of study. A one-time license fee covers course syllabus tailored to your educational institution's semester or term format, suggested lecture slides, reading list, suggested projects for students, and one hour of coaching for your instructor(s) on how to teach the course. Please use the contact form for any additional information.


Cybersecurity Leadership and Governance

Course Rationale

Digital strategy drives the mission of modern organizations. Every organization is an IT organization today and every worker is an IT worker. Enterprise cybersecurity leadership, governance and culture has becoming synonymous with enterprise leadership, governance, and culture. Hence all executives need to understand and practice cybersecurity leadership and organizational culture development.

Cybersecurity is more about people and leadership than it is about technology or policy. This course introduces the student to the field and provides them with the interdisciplinary and holistic mindset of a modern organizational leader.  Any organizational executive, practicing technology or cybersecurity leader, or anyone wishing to enter the field will benefit from this course. This course deals with the most ignored cybersecurity problem in the industry – the failure to lead people within an organization for the purposes of cybersecurity and perpetual innovation.

Cybersecurity is an innovation engine and not a cost center. The engagement of people at all layers of the organization for the purposes of cybersecurity is critical for a successful organizational cybersecurity strategy. Such engagement unleashes a healthy culture of perpetual innovation and productivity in organizations.

Course Description

The goal of an enterprise cybersecurity leadership strategy is to develop and sustain an organizational cybersecurity culture.  A successful enterprise cybersecurity leadership strategy can be a hallmark of distinction as well as a driver for revenue and innovation for an organization.  Students will become familiar with the key components of enterprise cybersecurity leadership and governance, how to implement them, and why they are important. Practical problems, barriers, and limitations as well as mitigation strategies will be discussed. While insider threats will be discussed in this course – that is not the focus of the course.

Students will learn through reading relevant reading materials prior to class, synchronous lectures, class discussion and interactions, research of organizations, as well as group exercises.  Discussions will draw upon the instructor’s 30 years experience (including 12 years as Chief Information Officer) in developing enterprise cybersecurity strategy in healthcare, biotechnology, energy and education in large and small public and private organizations, as well the students’ own experiences in their organizations.  

Each student will produce a high quality research paper which will be reviewed by their peers and instructor. Student will revise the paper based on the feedback. The final version of the research paper will be graded and published online. This will enable students to promote their brand as cybersecurity professionals. This educational course is equivalent to a graduate level full semester university course and is being used by several universities and colleges worldwide.

Topics Covered


  • The Modern Technology Powered Organization and the Modern Worker
  • Cybersecurity Models and their Evolution to the Current Models
  • The Importance of Mission, Risk, Governance, People, and Culture
  • Sources of Human Productivity, Innovation and Loyalty
  • Impact of Ethical Leadership on Loyalty, Profits, and Cybersecurity
  • The Modern Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer Roles
  • Building Teams and Culture
  • Inspiring Innovation
  • Building the Human Firewall
  • Components of Enterprise Governance
  • Enterprise Governance: Risk and Stakeholder Management
  • Benefits and Outcomes of Enterprise Cybersecurity Leadership and Governance
  • Typical Barriers to Successful Enterprise Cybersecurity Leadership and How to Overcome Them


Required Text

Book:  Cybersecurity Leadership: Powering the Modern Organization (2021) - Libraries: Hardcover: ISBN 9781087981123; eBook: ISBN 9781087981161; Audiobook: ISBN 9781669671800​. Visit Overdrive Libby, find your library and ask them to get the ebooks and audiobooks. All other suggested reading materials will be public domain or open educational resources.

Typical Course Format

Course meets once a week for 8 weeks. Due to the interactive nature of the classes, class attendance and active participation is mandatory. A missed class must be made up by watching the video recording of the class. Students missing more than 1 class must make up the sessions and complete all course requirements during a future semester in order to receive their completion certificate. Check the syllabus for all class meeting dates and times. Course can be taught in person, 100% online, or in a hybrid format. Course can also be adapted to any institution's academic term schedule.

About the Author

In 2017 (ISC)2 named Dr. Mansur Hasib a “Rock Star” of cybersecurity and presented him an electric guitar along with the (ISC)2 Americas Information Security Leadership Award (ISLA) for leading the implementation of the Master of Science in Cybersecurity Technology program at a major university. In 2018 the Global Cybersecurity Observatory based in Europe inducted Dr. Hasib into the Hall of Fame. In 2018 and 2019 SC Magazine awarded Dr. Hasib's program Best Cybersecurity Higher Education Program in the USA and Dr. Mansur Hasib was featured on WMAR-TV ABC.

Dr. Hasib also won the 2017 Cybersecurity People’s Choice Award and the 2017 Information Governance Expert of the Year Award. He has 30 years of experience (including 12 as Chief Information Officer) leading organizational transformations through digital leadership and cybersecurity strategy in healthcare, biotechnology, education, and energy. His seminal book Cybersecurity Leadership (available in ebook, paperback, and audio) has been widely acclaimed by practitioners and scholars alike and is listed among the best IT and cybersecurity books of all time. In 2013, as part of his doctoral work, Dr. Hasib conducted a national study of US healthcare cybersecurity and published the book Impact of Security Culture on Security Compliance in Healthcare in the USA and became one of the first few in the world to earn a Doctor of Science in cybersecurity.

Additionally, with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Politics and a Master’s degree in Political Science, Dr. Hasib brings a unique interdisciplinary perspective to anything he discusses. Dr. Hasib enjoys table tennis, comedy, and travel and has been to all 50 states of the USA. Follow him on Twitter @mhasib or LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mansurhasib. To access more content or to contact Dr. Hasib, visit: www.cybersecurityleadership.com.