Joe Cozzupoli is a cybersecurity leader with a passion for people, problem-solving, and community. As Field CISO at Cosive, Joe bridges the gap between technology and business, helping organisations navigate complex security challenges while building lasting relationships based on trust.
With a background spanning major vendors like Microsoft, Cisco, and Palo Alto Networks, Joe brings a deep understanding of both infrastructure and strategy. Beyond his day job, he’s an active community contributor, serving as Vice President of the ISC2 Sydney Chapter, mentoring through ISACA, and participating in the Global Initiative on Responsible AI.
In this conversation, Joe shares insights into the evolving role of the Field CISO, his journey from networking to cybersecurity, and why strong relationships remain at the heart of effective security leadership.
Tash: Tell us a bit about yourself Joe.
Joe: I’m Joe Cozzupoli, Field CISO at Cosive. I love talking to clients, building relationships, solving business problems with technical platforms and consulting. I was previously at vendors like Microsoft, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, helping organisations be secure and building relationships with the C-Suite, translating down to the technical level, and vice versa.
I’m also big into community, I’m vice president of the ISC2 Sydney chapter, I’m also part of the Global Initiative on Responsible AI. I also do mentoring for ISACA.
Tash: Tell us about the Field CISO role. What does a Field CISO do, and how do they help?
Joe: You work on go-to-market strategy and sales strategy, giving feedback from the industry to the team on where to engage and be present. You talk to other CISOs and CIOs and bring in technical expertise from within your organisation as needed. It’s about opening doors and getting your company’s name out there. That can include conferences, blogs, podcasts, being active on LinkedIn and social media. You’re leveraging your existing relationships in the C-Suite to bring in new business.
Tash: Kind of like a bridge between the sales team and the C-Suite?
Joe: Exactly. You can’t be a salesperson. You have to use your relationships, and that takes a long time. It’s about long-term trust building as a peer, not as a random salesperson trying to get a lead.
Tash: Tell us a bit about what you’re working on at the moment and what got you interested in working at Cosive?
Joe: Big reputation. I was connected to Prescott for a couple of years, I used to see him at AISA. I saw the role, it sounded interesting. Threat intelligence and SecOps are not my background, it’s more infrastructure and architecture, but I thought I could bring something different to the table and help Cosive grow. I’ve mainly been working on the sales strategy, and working with marketing and others on the go-to-market strategy.
Tash: What are some of the key themes or through-lines that have defined the way you think about things and what you typically focus on in your career?
Joe: I’ve always cared about the outcomes of the customer. Even when I was in vendor-land or a pre-sales role, it was always about the customer, not just whatever we were selling. This helped me build a lot of trust with customers, because they could see that I was customer-first.
I’ve always had a knack for building relationships and networking. If I needed something done, I’d build relationships with the right people so that they’d help me out when I needed it.
I also enjoy simplifying things and being able to explain technical concepts to different layers of the customer organisation, from the techies upwards to the business layer.
I’m also a quick learner. When I did Operational Technology (OT) Security at Microsoft, I’d never touched that stuff in my life. It was a different language to everything I’d done in my career, but I picked it up, learned it, and owned it.
Tash: What did you do before you made the switch into cybersecurity?
Joe: A couple years before COVID I was at Cisco as technologies and pre-sales lead for data centre and hybrid cloud. I thought, customers don’t buy data centres every year, they’re all going to move to the cloud. I’m not really making an impact, I’m just drawing diagrams of data centres and switches. I had always been doing security as part of my roles, especially as an enterprise architect. I thought, maybe I’ll transition into pure cyber, so I did my CISSP, then I got a role at Palo Alto Networks.
SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) and SD-WAN (Software Defined Wide Area Network) were a specialty of mine, they were my baby, because I’ve got that infrastructure and networking background. I led Palo Alto’s SASE solution when I was there. I went to Citrix, they tapped me on the shoulder. Then I went to Microsoft next, which was completely different. It was really just to uplift my own skills, talk more to the business, and work on stuff that has direct impact. I enjoyed that, so that’s what I’ve been doing.
Tash: You started your career in networking, right?
Joe: Yep. NOC not SOC. I’ve worked across all industries. I’ve got a service provider background because I was Optus. I’ve got a double CCIE, one in Service Provider and one in Data Centre from when I joined Cisco. I’ve always had a big networking focus and that’s helped me when doing SASE, pure services, secure access services edge, SD-WAN security, that type of thing.
Tash: What’s something your professional network might be surprised to learn about you?
Joe: They already know I love coffee. I’ve got a good machine at home that I got right before COVID. But I live on a street where there’s about six cafes, so I can also just go downstairs and get a coffee. Sometimes in the afternoon instead of making one I’ll go for a walk and sit at a cafe for half an hour and have a coffee. It just depends. I like the social aspect, and people watching. I have double espressos, or double macchiatos.
I’m always geeky with tech. I’m an Apple guy, I’ve got the latest AirPods, waiting for the new phone. I’ve got a 14 Pro Max, I’m waiting for the 17 Pro Max in silver. My laptop’s silver, so I thought I’d keep it classic.
Tash: Anything else you would want readers to know about you?
Joe: I’m always up for a coffee. I love my wine, and I love my whiskey. I’m Italian, so good food, good times. I believe good business is done over a meal or a coffee where you can just talk properly and honestly, with integrity and not be the salesperson, not be the geeky guy.
I’m also a believer in building the community for the right reasons, with no gatekeepers and no us versus them. It’s what we need. I also believe in using the right tools, and using AI in the right way.