Cheyanne Mallas’s Cybersecurity Project Management Playbook

Managing cybersecurity projects isn’t like overseeing typical IT initiatives. The stakes are higher, the landscape shifts constantly, and the consequences of failure can be catastrophic. For Cheyanne Mallas, a seasoned expert in cybersecurity project management, success depends on structure, adaptability, and clear alignment with business goals.

To help organizations strengthen their security efforts, Mallas has developed a step-by-step playbook, a practical framework that guides projects from conception to continuous improvement.

Step 1: Define the Mission with Precision

Every cybersecurity project begins with a clear mission statement. Mallas insists that project managers define:

• Scope – What systems, processes, and assets are covered?

• Objectives – What risks will be mitigated, what compliance standards met, and what business outcomes achieved?

• Constraints – What budget, time, or resource limitations apply?

This clarity prevents scope creep and ensures all stakeholders understand what success looks like.

“If you don’t define the mission at the start, you’ll chase goals that shift every week,” Mallas warns.

Step 2: Conduct a Risk-First Assessment

Rather than jumping to technology solutions, Mallas emphasizes starting with a risk assessment:

• Identify critical assets (data, applications, networks).

• Map potential threat actors (criminals, insiders, nation-states).

• Evaluate vulnerabilities (outdated software, weak access controls).

• Assess potential impacts (financial, reputational, legal).

This analysis informs project priorities, ensuring resources address the highest-risk areas first.

Step 3: Secure Executive Sponsorship

Cybersecurity projects cannot succeed in isolation. They require funding, visibility, and authority. Mallas makes securing executive sponsorship a priority, often by presenting risks in terms of:

• Potential revenue loss from downtime

• Reputational damage from breaches

• Regulatory fines for non-compliance

By translating risks into business language, she ensures leaders see security as a strategic investment, not just an expense.

Step 4: Assemble a Cross-Functional Team

Mallas believes cybersecurity is a team sport. She builds diverse project teams including:

• IT and security engineers

• Compliance and legal advisors

• HR and operations representatives

• Departmental “security champions”

This ensures every angle, technical, legal, cultural, and operational, is represented.

Step 5: Develop a Roadmap with Milestones

A successful project requires more than a deadline, it needs a structured roadmap. Mallas breaks projects into manageable phases:

1. Immediate safeguards – quick wins like multi-factor authentication.

2. Core upgrades – firewalls, encryption, network segmentation.

3. Monitoring capabilities – SIEM systems, anomaly detection.

4. Cultural initiatives – training, awareness, policy reinforcement.

5. Continuous improvement – audits, refinements, feedback loops.

Each phase has KPIs tied to risk reduction and business outcomes.

Step 6: Select Technology with Purpose

Instead of chasing the latest buzzword tools, Mallas evaluates technology based on:

• Compatibility with existing systems

• Ability to solve specific, identified risks

• Scalability for future needs

• Vendor reputation and security posture

She avoids “tool sprawl,” ensuring each investment delivers measurable value.

Step 7: Manage Change Effectively

The best technical solution fails if users reject it. Mallas integrates change management into every project, including:

• Role-based training sessions

• Transparent communication about why changes are necessary

• Gradual rollouts with pilot testing

• Feedback mechanisms to refine processes

Her philosophy: security should enable, not frustrate, the workforce.

Step 8: Build Incident Response into the Plan

Unlike many managers who treat incident response as an afterthought, Mallas bakes it into every project:

• Playbooks for different attack scenarios

• Escalation paths defining who responds when

• Regular simulations to test readiness

By the time a project ends, the organization doesn’t just have better defenses, it has a practiced response capability.

Step 9: Monitor, Measure, and Report

Mallas emphasizes the importance of continuous monitoring and transparent reporting. She uses:

• Dashboards for real-time threat detection

• KPIs like incident response times, patch compliance, and training completion rates

• Quarterly stakeholder reports linking progress to risk reduction

This transparency builds trust and demonstrates tangible ROI.

Step 10: Conduct Post-Project Reviews

Every project concludes with a post-mortem review. Mallas leads sessions that ask:

• What worked well?

• Where did we fall short?

• What lessons should inform future projects?

She compiles insights into a living knowledge base, ensuring each initiative strengthens the next.

Tools and Checklists in the Mallas Playbook

To operationalize her framework, Mallas often uses:

• Risk registers to track vulnerabilities and mitigation steps

• RACI charts (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) for role clarity

• Compliance matrices mapping project tasks to regulatory requirements

• Communication plans detailing how updates are shared across teams

• Simulation schedules for incident response practice

These tools create consistency and accountability across complex initiatives.

Measuring Success Beyond Completion

For Mallas, project success isn’t defined by finishing on time or on budget, it’s about delivering lasting risk reduction. She measures success in terms of:

• Decreased number of successful phishing attempts

• Shortened detection and response times

• Improved audit results with fewer critical findings

• Higher employee participation in security programs

• Documented cost savings from avoided breaches

“A cybersecurity project isn’t truly successful until it changes behavior, reduces risk, and strengthens resilience,” she says.

Why the Playbook Works

Cheyanne Mallas’s playbook succeeds because it combines:

• Structure – Clear phases, milestones, and documentation.

• Flexibility – Adaptability to evolving threats and regulations.

• Comprehensiveness – Attention to people, processes, and technology.

• Measurability – KPIs that demonstrate business value.

• Culture – A focus on awareness and adoption as much as tools.

Conclusion

Cybersecurity project management is one of the most demanding leadership roles in the digital era. It requires balancing technical expertise with organizational insight, and short-term action with long-term strategy.

Through her playbook approach, Cheyanne Mallas has created a framework that organizations can rely on to execute projects effectively, build resilience, and foster a culture of shared responsibility.

In a world where threats evolve daily, her methodology offers something rare: a structured, adaptable, and proven roadmap for lasting security.