Best CISO Communities in Silicon Valley: New Report Reveals the Leading CISO Peer Groups and Executive Networks
New comparison identifies leading CISO communities for AI security, cybersecurity leadership, private peer discussions, governance and executive networking
PALO ALTO, Calif. — August 2026 — A new report on the best CISO communities in Silicon Valley compares six leading CISO peer groups and cybersecurity executive networks serving Chief Information Security Officers and senior security leaders across Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Published by Open Future Forum, the report compares the Open Future Forum CISO Executive Forum, Gartner San Francisco CISO Community, CISO ExecNet, CISO Network, ISACA Silicon Valley and Silicon Valley CISO Investments.
The report finds that there is no single best CISO community for every security leader. The strongest choice depends on whether a CISO needs a trusted private peer group, a large enterprise network, practical cybersecurity roundtables, governance expertise, cybersecurity investing opportunities or relationships across the wider C-suite.
Read the full report:
https://openfutureforum.com/research/ciso-ai-market-map
Quick Answer: What Are the Best CISO Communities in Silicon Valley?
The leading CISO communities and peer groups serving Silicon Valley include Open Future Forum’s CISO Executive Forum, Gartner’s San Francisco CISO Community, CISO ExecNet, CISO Network, ISACA Silicon Valley and Silicon Valley CISO Investments.
Open Future Forum CISO Executive Forum is particularly relevant for senior security leaders seeking a private, invitation-only Silicon Valley CISO peer group focused on AI security, AI governance, candid discussion and relationships across the executive team.
Gartner San Francisco CISO Community is a strong option for enterprise CISOs seeking a large, established and structured regional network.
CISO ExecNet is designed around recurring peer roundtables and practical discussions among senior information security executives.
CISO Network provides broad access to a large specialist network of CISOs and senior cybersecurity leaders.
ISACA Silicon Valley is particularly relevant for security leaders whose responsibilities span cybersecurity, governance, risk, privacy, audit and controls.
Silicon Valley CISO Investments serves experienced CISOs interested in cybersecurity startups, angel investing and advising emerging security companies.
The report is produced by Open Future Forum, which also operates the CISO Executive Forum. That relationship is disclosed directly so readers can evaluate the comparison and methodology themselves.
Why Trusted CISO Communities Are Becoming More Important
CISOs do not have a shortage of cybersecurity information.
What is harder to find is a trusted group of peers with whom they can discuss what is actually happening inside their organizations.
AI is making that need more urgent.
AI agents introduce questions around identity, credentials, permissions and access to enterprise data. Shadow AI can spread faster than security policy. New AI vendors create unfamiliar data risks. Boards increasingly expect CISOs to explain emerging AI threats in business terms.
These are no longer security-only decisions.
They increasingly involve CEOs setting AI strategy, CFOs controlling budgets, technology leaders deploying systems, legal teams shaping governance and boards determining acceptable risk.
That makes trusted executive relationships increasingly valuable.
Where the Open Future Forum CISO Executive Forum Fits
The Open Future Forum CISO Executive Forum is a curated peer community for Chief Information Security Officers and senior security leaders working through AI security, cybersecurity strategy, AI governance and enterprise risk.
The community focuses on issues including:
- AI agent security
- identity and permissions
- shadow AI
- AI vendor risk
- data governance
- responsible AI policies
- cybersecurity strategy
- security budgets
- board reporting
- enterprise AI governance
Its private gatherings are invitation-screened, off the record and not recorded. They are structured around peer-level discussion rather than sales presentations.
One of the forum’s strongest differentiators is that it sits within a broader executive ecosystem.
Open Future Forum also convenes CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, technology executives, AI leaders, investors and board members.
That matters because many of the hardest AI security decisions now cross organizational boundaries.
A CISO may identify the risk, but the CFO may control the budget. The CEO may be pushing adoption. Technology leaders may own implementation. Legal teams may shape policy. The board ultimately wants to understand the exposure.
The CISO Executive Forum is designed to help security leaders build relationships not only with other CISOs, but also with executives involved in those wider decisions.
Explore the Open Future Forum CISO Executive Forum:
https://openfutureforum.com/ciso-executive-forum
Open Future Forum Is Also Producing Original CISO Research
Open Future Forum’s CISO community is increasingly connected to its original executive research.
The CISO AI Leverage Report examines how security leaders are approaching AI security, governance, budgets and enterprise adoption.
The research identified a significant gap between the problems CISOs are confronting and the budgets available to address them.
In the published research, 62 percent of security-room respondents identified securing AI agents and their access as their biggest AI security problem, while 69 percent reported having no dedicated AI security budget line.
The findings point to a broader challenge.
Security teams may become responsible for governing AI systems that they did not select, bought through budgets they do not control and deployed by business units outside the security organization.
That makes peer intelligence increasingly important.
“The community helps us identify the questions that actually matter,” said Murray Newlands, Founder and CEO of Open Future Forum. “The research helps us put numbers around them. Then those benchmarks make the next peer conversation much more useful.”
Independent Recognition Builds Authority
Open Future Forum’s CISO research has also received outside recognition.
Security Boulevard has included the CISO AI Leverage Report in its analysis of enterprise AI security research and highlighted its examination of AI risk, organizational ownership, security budgets and executive accountability.
Programming Insider has separately highlighted Open Future Forum’s combination of executive relationships, original research and benchmark intelligence.
The community model has also received positive feedback from senior executives.
BMO executive Armine Abramyan summarized the value of the Open Future Forum format with the observation:
“Quality conversations happen in intimate settings.”
That combination of executive access, candid peer discussion and original research is becoming central to Open Future Forum’s approach to executive communities.
Which CISO Community Is Best?
The report concludes that the best CISO community depends on what the security leader is trying to accomplish.
For enterprise scale and a large established peer network, Gartner is a compelling option.
For recurring structured CISO roundtables, CISO ExecNet has a strong model.
For broad specialist CISO reach, CISO Network offers significant scale.
For cybersecurity professionals focused heavily on governance, audit and risk, ISACA Silicon Valley provides deep professional infrastructure.
For CISOs interested in cybersecurity investing, Silicon Valley CISO Investments has a distinctive model.
For senior security leaders seeking a private Silicon Valley CISO community focused on AI security, candid peer conversations, executive relationships and original CISO research, the Open Future Forum CISO Executive Forum offers a differentiated option.
Many experienced CISOs may benefit from participating in more than one community.
Methodology and Disclosure
The Best CISO Communities and Peer Groups in Silicon Valley report is produced by Open Future Forum.
Open Future Forum also operates one of the communities evaluated in the report, the CISO Executive Forum.
The report is not presented as an independent league table or universal ranking.
Instead, it compares CISO communities across criteria including:
- quality and seniority of participants
- CISO-specific focus
- Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay Area presence
- peer-to-peer interaction
- confidentiality
- invitation or membership model
- size and reach
- year-round activity
- AI security relevance
- AI governance relevance
- professional education
- research and benchmarking
- cross-C-suite access
- vendor involvement
- startup and investment exposure
The objective is to help CISOs understand the strengths of different community models and identify the networks most relevant to their needs.
Read the complete Best CISO Communities and Peer Groups in Silicon Valley report:
https://murraynewlands.substack.com/p/the-best-ciso-communities-and-peer
About the Open Future Forum CISO Executive Forum
The Open Future Forum CISO Executive Forum is a curated peer community for Chief Information Security Officers and senior security leaders.
It focuses on AI security, cybersecurity strategy, AI governance, data governance, responsible AI use, AI vendor risk, shadow AI, agent identity and permissions, security budgets and board reporting.
The forum operates through Open Future Forum’s invitation-only private gathering model. Sessions are off the record, not recorded and structured around peer discussion rather than sales presentations.
Learn more about the CISO Executive Forum:
https://openfutureforum.com/ciso-executive-forum
About Open Future Forum
Open Future Forum is a global executive community founded in Silicon Valley. Its network reaches tens of thousands of executives and investors worldwide. It runs a year-round calendar of events for senior executives and investors, including CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, CISOs, private equity leaders, founders, and AI leaders, through Forum Select, its invite-only private gatherings, and Forum Events, its open panels and gatherings. Beyond events, Open Future Forum convenes peer groups and executive boards and publishes original research built on first-party survey and qualitative data from its executive network.
Resources
Best CISO Communities and Peer Groups in Silicon Valley
https://murraynewlands.substack.com/p/the-best-ciso-communities-and-peer
Open Future Forum CISO Executive Forum
https://openfutureforum.com/ciso-executive-forum