10/4/2016 9:19:47 AM
October 3, 2016
St. Paul, MN – Chris Buse, Chief Information Security Officer for the State of Minnesota, has been named this year’s Public Sector Visionary Leader of the Year by the Cyber Security Summit. Buse will accept the award on behalf of the entire security team at Minnesota IT Services, the State of Minnesota’s central IT organization. He will be presented with the award on October 12, at the 2016 Cyber Security Summit. To learn more about the Summit, go to cybersecuritysummit.org.
“I am tremendously proud of Chris Buse’s leadership, and the work that Minnesota IT has done to protect the state of Minnesota,” said Commissioner Thomas Baden. “State systems and Minnesotans’ data are increasingly under attack, and those attacks are growing more sophisticated and often target state government entities. In this new threat landscape, strong leadership will be more important than ever as we work to invest in new strategies to protect all Minnesotans.”
“I am honored to be recognized in this way and to receive this award from the Cyber Security Summit,” says Chris Buse. “Defending the State of Minnesota truly is a team effort. I accept this award on behalf of all of the dedicated team members on the Minnesota IT Cybersecurity Team who work tirelessly to defend our state.”
Representing one of the diverse paths that can lead to a career in cyber security, Mr. Buse started as a CPA before branching into information technology audit, which led to him to a technical audit group responsible for IT auditing in government. After many years working in that capacity, he was named Minnesota’s first CISO in 2007.
As a technology agency that partners with more than 70 different agencies and organizations, Minnesota IT faces the challenge of centralizing processes for organizations that have historically been separate. Prior to appointing a Chief Information Security Officer, state agencies had adopted a wide variety of different technologies, making the IT infrastructure less efficient and more difficult to secure. Buse said his role has been to help lead a group that provides a holistic approach to the problem. He credits a strong team for the success Minnesota IT has achieved in that area.
Mr. Buse is a founding member of the Cyber Security Summit, and became involved because he saw the need to connect leaders with the big picture strategic issues impacting information security. Today, with a threat landscape that continues to change and a more diverse array of attacks happening increasingly quickly, Minnesota has a greater need for collaboration than ever before.
“You can't be a successful security leader if you live in a vacuum,” he says. “You need to be part of a broader cyber security ecosystem that shares information across boundaries.”
As someone who has seen the growing need for security professionals firsthand, Mr. Buse is a strong advocate for workforce development and getting young people involved in cyber security. For the past two years, he has spearheaded a breakfast at the Cyber Security Summit for students interested in information security.
The other award given by the Summit, the 2016 Private Sector Visionary Leader of the Year, went to Brian Isle, senior fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Technological Leadership Institute and co-founder and former CEO of Adventium Labs.
You can learn more, and share the importance of cybersecurity in the State of Minnesota with your coworkers, friends, and family by visiting mn.gov/mnit/cybersecurity.
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Cybersecurity
Leadership
