Application Security , CISO Trainings , CyberEdBoard
CyberEdBoard Profiles in Leadership: Melina Scotto Mastin
Accomplished CISO on Her Career Journey and Leading Collaborative Cyber Efforts
Melina Scotto Mastin, an accomplished CISO and CyberEdBoard member, shared how her journey from network engineering to CISO shaped her leadership style. She emphasized collaborative cybersecurity approaches, advocating for “shift-left” practices that integrate security early in projects, helping her teams maintain agility while reducing risk.
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"We met daily and almost in a scrum setting," Scotto Mastin said. "We met with the developer teams as they were developing this every single day … by the time you get to that final analysis, which is called an ATO in the federal space, you've already passed all of those markers." She pointed out that embedding cybersecurity early, or "shifting left," ultimately saves time and boosts system reliability.
In this video interview with Information Security Media Group, conducted as part of CyberEdBoard's ongoing Profiles in Leadership series, Scotto Mastin discussed:
- How shift-left security methods support agile, secure deployment;
- Approaches to building trust and collaboration across technical teams;
- The value of professional networks like CyberEdBoard in cybersecurity education and camaraderie.
Scotto Mastin is a veteran CISO and cyber advisor to Fortune 500 corporations and federal civilian agencies. Her 25-year journey began as a database manager at the CTAA, where she oversaw network security. She later served on the President’s Y2K security committee, focusing on disaster recovery for U.S. city transportation systems. After mitigating cyber risks at various nonprofits, she joined John Snow Inc., securing global health networks for PEPFAR countries. Scotto then held roles in domestic healthcare, NIH, and General Dynamics Information Technology, where she led cybersecurity for 140 federal health contracts. Most recently, she served as vice president and CISO at Hilton, overseeing global cyber risk reduction. She is a CyberEdBoard member.
CyberEdBoard is ISMG's premier members-only community of senior-most executives and thought leaders in the fields of security, risk, privacy and IT. CyberEdBoard provides executives with a powerful, peer-driven collaborative ecosystem, private meetings and a library of resources to address complex challenges shared by thousands of CISOs and senior security leaders located in 65 different countries worldwide.
Join the Community - CyberEdBoard.io.
About the Author
Anna Delaney
Director, Productions, ISMG
An experienced broadcast journalist, Delaney conducts interviews with senior cybersecurity leaders around the world. Previously, she was editor-in-chief of the website for The European Information Security Summit, or TEISS. Earlier, she worked at Levant TV and Resonance FM and served as a researcher at the BBC and ITV in their documentary and factual TV departments.
