“Cybersecurity Leadership: Powering the Modern Organization” by Mansur Hasib, program chair for University of Maryland University College (UMUC) graduate Cybersecurity Technology program has been nominated for inclusion in the 2017 Cybersecurity Canon, an inventory of essential books on cybersecurity.

The Cybersecurity Canon was launched in 2014 by Rick Howard, the chief security officer for the Palo Alto Networks, a provider of next-generation security platforms, and promotes the continued education of cybersecurity professionals by providing a curated list of both fiction and non-fiction works that advance the discussion of modern industry issues, noted the Palo Alto Networks April 4 press release on this year’s inductees.

The Cybersecurity Canon was launched in 2014 by Rick Howard, the chief security officer for the Palo Alto Networks, a provider of next-generation security platforms. It promotes the continued education of cybersecurity professionals by providing a curated list of both fiction and non-fiction works that advance the discussion of modern industry issues, noted the Palo Alto Networks April 4 press release on this year’s inductees.

To be included in the Canon, a book must speak to all cybersecurity practitioners – whether from industry, government or academia, Howard said. “It must have timeless content, genuinely represent an aspect of the community that is true and precise, reflect the highest quality and, if not read, will leave a hole in the cybersecurity professional’s education that will make the practitioner incomplete,” he added.

Nominees for the Canon awards are selected by an advisory board of tenured researchers, industry professionals and journalists who have devoted their careers to the field of cybersecurity, according to the Cybersecurity Canon website.

In an excerpt from her review and nomination, Canon committee member Dawn-Marie Hutchinson attributed Hasib with bringing “an executive MBA to technology professionals in one book. “Cybersecurity Leadership: Powering the Modern Organization“… is a significant reference book for leadership in any organization,” she wrote.

In his book, Hasib addresses the business challenges unique to cybersecurity and offers critical leadership principles for interdisciplinary organizational leaders and technology professionals. The book aims, he said, to provide readers a complete cybersecurity leadership course, including a business-level understanding of what cybersecurity is.

“I wanted readers to understand that people and innovation are critical components of the field.”

Cybersecurity. Canon Committee Member and nominator DaMon Ross wrote that Hasib’s book “defines cybersecurity. It also continues to expand on the three key tenets of people, policy and technology.

“Hasib does well at describing such complex topics as the seven essential functions of a CIO, the challenges that occur when organizations place the CIO as a direct report to the CFO, and why the CIO and CISO must have a mutually supportive relationship,” Ross concluded.

Now in its third edition, “Cybersecurity Leadership: Powering the Modern Organization” was cited during Council of Graduate Schools testimony at the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee meeting, April 29, 2014, and is being used by universities as well as government and private cybersecurity leadership training programs.

Voting is expected to take place early next year with inductees likely announced at Ignite 2017, Palo Alto Networks annual user conference. For more information visit the Cybersecurity Canon website.

To learn more about Professor Hasib, read his profile in UMUC’s Cyber Experts guide.