Breached Texas Agency Gets New CISO, CPO

Texas Comptroller's Office Names First Chief Privacy Officer
Breached Texas Agency Gets New CISO, CPO
Nearly three months after revelation of a year-long information security breach that exposed personal information of some 3.5 million people at the Texas state comptroller's office (see Texas Comptroller's Breach Lasted About a Year), the comptroller announced last week she hired a new chief information security officer and the agency's first chief privacy officer.

As the new CISO, Jesse Rivera will oversee information technology security and risk assessment, direct cybersecurity audits and ensure technologies are in place to reduce risks of attacks. Rivera recently served as CISO at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg. Earlier, he worked as an information security officer at General Electric and Clear Channel Communications and spent nearly five years with the Central Intelligence Agency.

Chief Privacy Officer Elizabeth Rogers will design and update privacy standards, perform risk reviews to identify exchanges of personally identifiable information between the agency and other entities or individuals, identify new privacy risks and develop mitigation strategies and collaborate with chief privacy officers at the state and federal level on privacy initiatives. Rogers, an attorney, had been director of legal and regulatory client services at the business consultancy Resources Global Professionals. Previously, she served as general counsel of the State Bar of Texas and worked for the Texas attorney general for more than seven years.

State Comptroller Susan Combs says Rogers also will keep agency leaders apprised of privacy trends. "It is very important for us to be able to stay on top of information privacy and security issues as governments, individuals and companies increase reliance on information technology as part of routine daily activity," Combs says.

Three weeks after revealing the breach and firing four employees, including the heads of IT and information security, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs took personal responsibility for the security breach (see Texas Comptroller Apologizes for Breach). The breach exposed Social Security numbers and home addresses during the transfer of unencrypted files from three state agencies to a state comptroller server, and in some instances, remained exposed for about a year and cost taxpayers at least $1.8 million (see Breach Costs Texas $1.8 Million).


About the Author

Eric Chabrow

Eric Chabrow

Retired Executive Editor, GovInfoSecurity

Chabrow, who retired at the end of 2017, hosted and produced the semi-weekly podcast ISMG Security Report and oversaw ISMG's GovInfoSecurity and InfoRiskToday. He's a veteran multimedia journalist who has covered information technology, government and business.




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