The Center for Connected Intelligence
The think tank for people shaping security
Bringing security leaders together to produce original research, confront emerging challenges, and make sense of a fast-changing field.
Why pay attention
Better security decisions start with better perspective.
The Center combines original research with firsthand perspectives from security leaders and subject-matter experts—delivering timely, practical context on the decisions and trade-offs shaping the profession.
Know where you stand
Understand how your program compares with others facing similar challenges. Use original research, industry benchmarks, and practitioner perspectives to evaluate priorities, investments, and approaches.
Make sense of what's changing
Go beyond headlines and broad industry predictions. Get informed perspectives on emerging developments, what they mean for security teams, and the questions worth asking next.
Learn from people doing the work
Hear how experienced security leaders and practitioners approach difficult decisions, address common challenges, and put ideas into practice.
Voices of the Center
The people behind the perspective
The Center for Connected Intelligence draws on security executives, practitioners, advisors, researchers, and subject-matter experts with firsthand knowledge of the field.
Their expertise challenges assumptions, broadens the conversation, and keeps the Center’s work grounded in the realities of security leadership and operations.
Research and perspective
Where experience becomes insight.
The Center for Connected Intelligence examines the forces reshaping security through original data, expert analysis, and informed perspectives from across the profession.
The result is clearer context, practical guidance, and credible points of comparison for the decisions ahead.
Coming Soon
Benchmark Report
The Corporate Security Benchmark Report
How security programs compare on staffing, budget, structure, and scope.
Check back when the report launches on 10/28
The Annual CSO Survey
What chief security officers are prioritizing, funding, and watching in the year ahead.
Read the survey → AssessmentThe Corporate Security AI Readiness Assessment
Gauge how prepared your program is to adopt AI, and where to start.
Take the Assessment → Research ReportState of Data Analytics
How security teams use data to see risk earlier and prove impact.
Read the report →Events and experiences
Conversations worth showing up for.
The Center for Connected Intelligence brings timely questions and new findings into live discussion through in-person and virtual experiences.
Each event creates space to compare approaches, test ideas, and learn across the profession.
The Connected INTELLIGENCE Podcast
Hear from the people closest to the work.
Each episode explores the decisions, challenges, and lessons shaping modern security programs.
Guests unpack what they are seeing, what they are learning, and what security teams can apply.
Breaking Security Silos: Connecting People, Technology, and Decisions with Bill Udell
Hosted by Manish Mehta
From the World Cup to the Olympics: Scaling Event Security with LA Metro’s Robert Gummer
Hosted by Fred Burton
Evolving Insider Threats and Cyber-Physical Convergence with Former FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate
Hosted by Fred Burton
Adapting Executive Protection in Dynamic Threat Environments with Jonathan Wackrow
Hosted by Fred BurtonFrom strategy to practice
Two communities. One connected profession.
Each is designed around a different set of responsibilities, from setting security strategy to putting it into practice.
The Executive Council
A trusted place to compare notes, tackle challenges, and learn from peers who understand your job.
The Executive Council is a private, invite-only community for No. 1 and No. 2 security leaders, convened by the Center for Connected Intelligence. It’s a zero-cost effort by Ontic to connect you with trusted peers to benchmark programs, exchange perspectives, and work through pressing challenges.
The Practitioner Network
A community for security operators, analysts, investigators, program managers, and other practitioners.
The Practitioner Network focuses on peer knowledge-sharing, operational best practices, collaboration, and resources that strengthen day-to-day security work.