The Victorian government’s IT services provider Cenitex is hunting for a new chief information security officer after its former IT security chief left to work on the state’s next cyber strategy.
James Fell departed the central IT agency last month to join the Victorian government cyber security unit within the Department of Premier and Cabinet as a cyber security specialist.
iTnews understands the secondment, which will see Fell assist with the development of the government’s 2020 cyber safety strategy this year, is a permanent move.
Fell spent just under a year in the position, which for the most part was in addition to his role as CISO at the Department of Health and Human Services between April 2019 and January 2020.
As Cenitex CISO, he took charge of the agency’s cyber security strategy and vision, drawing on his learnings from the implementation of the Victorian Health Cyber Security Uplift Strategy.
In the wake of Fell’s departure, Cenitex has begun searching for an information security “thought leader” to become its new CISO and oversee all “service assurance activities relating to customer and business partner information policies”.
It follows a realignment of the CISO role and its direct report into the infrastructure services team, which is responsible for the core services and technologies offered to government agencies such as server hosting platforms and networks, identity, storage and recovery capabilities.
Those services, which have only become more important with the shift to remote working brought about by COVID-19, are provided to 46,000 public servants across 35 departments, portfolio agencies and government entities.
Reporting directly to Cenitex’s chief information officer Patrick Carson, the incoming CISO will develop and enhance the agency’s information security framework, as well as oversee a strategic enterprise infosec risk management program.
Carson was previously general manager infrastructure strategy, but his title was recently changed to include the CIO to make it easier for Cenitex's customers CIOs to identify their counterpart within the agency.
The successful CISO will be expected to have “superior theoretical and practical expertise in enterprise and information systems security”, including a “demonstrated record of achievement”, and drive “continuous improvement in cyber resilience”.
Cenitex is offering the lucky applicant a salary of up to $183,601 annually. Applications close May 5.
Gloss