MNIT Celebrates Cybersecurity Awareness Month in Minnesota
10/18/2021 9:49:48 AM
Governor Walz declared October to be Cybersecurity Awareness Month in the State of Minnesota. Cybersecurity is a critical function of Minnesota IT Services (MNIT). We are constantly monitoring and responding to potential threats to make sure Minnesotans can access the critical services that they rely upon.
Recently we caught up with a few of our MNIT staff about their career journey into the cybersecurity space and had them share a bit about their experiences. We want to thank all our IT security teams for their efforts to secure and protect the state of Minnesota!
If you are interested in exploring a career in cybersecurity at the State of Minnesota, check out our Careers page.
The below is edited and condensed for clarity.
Brad Dutson is a Senior Security Analyst at MNIT Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). Dutson has been working in IT security for over 30 years. He started in networking and operating system security, and then became a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and started branching out into other areas of security and security frameworks. Brad began working for MNIT MDH in 2018, working on security best practices for new AWS cloud services.
Dutson: We securely transitioned 150+ applications from on premise to the AWS cloud. This included designing 29 best practices for AWS services, implementing the AWS Security Hub, and working with AWS and MDH DevOps to mitigate identified issues.
Dutson: Finding a cloud security mentor, support from your manager, cloud security online training, and engage with your cloud provider for continued updates.
Stacy Kaiser has amassed more than two decades of technology experience working for Minnesota, its counties, and private companies. She spent more than eight years leading and improving technology for local Minnesota government before taking on a leadership role within the state’s judicial branch. Kaiser currently manages the State of Minnesota’s Security Operations Center (SOC). Leveraging this position to help Minnesota counties augment their cyber security, Kaiser is currently spearheading MNIT’s Statewide Security Monitoring Initiative (SSMI), a grant-funded program to increase threat intelligence and advance vulnerability management for counties, Tribes, and port cities.
Kaiser: I lead the SOC. We are a dedicated cybersecurity team that monitors, identifies, and responds to cybersecurity threats impacting executive branch entities and MNET, Minnesotan’s dedicated public sector network.
Kaiser: When I was an Infrastructure Manager, I was an early adopter of cloud and IaaS environments and saw the opportunity for a career change. At that time, the security tasks fell to my teams and eventually I was able to hire security professionals and start a security team. I fell in love with the work, which eventually led me to information security. I also held positions in disaster recovery and lead audit teams. I started leading the SOC in early 2021. It was a natural career progression for me and I couldn’t be happier!
Vidya Vadlamani is the MNEIAM Lead/Architect who works on Identity and Access Management (IAM), which controls how Minnesotans, state employees, county staff, and providers access and create accounts across state systems.
Vadlamani: I started my IAM career as an intern. My mentor presented me with the opportunity to get into the field. It took baby steps to grow, but every position I’ve held since I started working back from 2013 taught me so much and is the reason that I’m here today.
Vadlamani: I have learned that working on IAM solutions requires learning fast, especially with rapidly changing technology. I feel that that I’ve really accomplished something when I can introduce the latest industry standards like OAuth, REST, SCIM etc. to the team. We are also exploring different IAM technologies and design options for future IAM upgrades.
Gayle Knight is a Network Firewall Engineer. The MNIT Firewall Team hosts the enterprise firewall for most state agencies. The team also works with larger agencies to establish security roles for requesting and approving firewall exceptions. This gives the experts within those agencies access to the entire process that keeps their specific applications secure Knight has worked on MNIT’s Firewall Team since 2001.
Knight: Firewalls in general are a crucial line of defense in network security. Firewalls and the people that manage them protect the people of Minnesota, our private information, and our state’s assets. It is important to walk the fine line between securing data and making sure the state of Minnesota can support and provide services to all Minnesotans. While the best security model is “Defense in Depth,” the firewalls themselves take on a large part of that responsibility.
Knight: Technology is a fast-paced, ever-changing field. Take time to stay updated on the latest threats. If you look forward to learning new technology and keeping the State of Minnesota and Minnesotans’ data secure, there are many different avenues to explore in this line of work.
