About Tradecraft Labs

Independent research exploring the human side of cybersecurity governance, leadership, and risk-informed decision making.

Research is the product. This platform documents research in progress, not just final outputs. Working theories, raw observations, literature frameworks, and the reasoning behind decisions are published as they develop.

Research Focus

The central question driving this platform: how do organizations make better cybersecurity risk decisions, and what leadership and governance structures enable that?

The current research investigates the Business Information Security Officer role as a governance intermediary, examining how trust, influence, and structured decision-making processes determine whether security risk is understood and acted on at the business level.

Future research will extend this into related areas: security governance frameworks, decision rights in risk management, and the organizational dynamics of cybersecurity leadership in complex enterprises.

About the Researcher

Joseph Hawley is a cybersecurity director and Business Information Security Partner with experience spanning security governance, risk management, and security-business integration across enterprise environments.

He is completing a Master of Science in Cybersecurity at Georgia Tech, where his graduate research examines the BISO role through the lens of organizational governance theory and boundary-spanning leadership, drawing on both academic literature and practitioner interviews with cybersecurity, business, and governance leaders.

Tradecraft Labs is where that research lives publicly. It documents the work as it happens, not just when it is done.