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High-Profile State Agency Recruiting for New CISO

The position is being upgraded to an elevated level, and it's expected that there will be "more support than ever" for information security at the department level.

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The state is recruiting for an “infosec leadership rockstar” to take on the role of chief information security officer (CISO) for the Department of Motor Vehicles.

“Awesome opportunity to get involved in totally redefining how this agency streamlines its operation in a transformative way and setting a new bar in secure delivery of services,” says a LinkedIn post by Vitaliy Panych, acting CISO for the California Department of Technology’s Office of Information Security. “Get involved in pioneering secure autonomous vehicles, technology enabled self service that impacts almost everyone in California, etc... Get involved in the fun and let me know!”

In his post, Panych noted: “To clarify, this is a brand new CISO role at a more elevated level with the directorate. The department wants to (address) the cyber security very seriously so there will be more support for infosec than ever within the DMV.” The Department of Technology is not involved in the DMV recruitment; rather, Panych’s post was for informational purposes only, said Bob Andosca, a CDT spokesman.

The new DMV CISO will serve as head of the Security Operations Center (SOC) for the department, according to the job posting. The position is a Career Executive Assignment B (C.E.A. B), with a monthly salary range of $10,010 to $11,924. Application deadline is July 26.

“The incumbent is responsible for managing issues affecting DMV information security, operation recovery, and network security,” the posting says. “The incumbent recommends, develops, and administers policies that comply with risk management industry standards to identify and assess risk associated with DMV’s information security assets.”

The new CISO “ensures the protection of DMV’s data and information processing assets by managing vulnerabilities within the information processing infrastructure, managing threats and incidents impacting DMV's information resources, assuring the appropriate use of DMV’s information resources, and educating and informing DMV employees of their responsibility to protect customer information security. Develops, implements, and maintains risk analyses including assessments to identify potential vulnerabilities that could threaten the security of DMV’s information assets.”

The DMV has drawn sustained scrutiny since problems began surfacing last year in connection with the state’s Motor Voter campaign and with some technological hurdles. Marybel Batjer, currently secretary of the state Government Operations Agency (GovOps), was assigned by Gov. Gavin Newsom in January to create and manage a six-month DMV Strike Team, intended to resolve problems with long wait lines, glitches related to voter registration and other issues. That strike team has identified several reforms — longer DMV office hours, more self-serve kiosks and the acceptance of credit cards for consumer transactions — and is expected to wrap up its report by the end of the month.

Once the DMV Strike Team finishes its assignment, Batjer will leave GovOps and will become president of the California Public Utilities Commission.

Dennis Noone is Executive Editor of Industry Insider. He is a career journalist, having worked at small-town newspapers and major metropolitan dailies including USA Today in Washington, D.C.