Inaugural Hatfield Cyber Fellows Engage with Leaders in the Field

Our inaugural Hatfield Cyber Fellows Summer 2022 learning about the IT/OT Interface of Cybersecurity at PGE (Courtesy of Portland General Electric)

It is not every day that we have the opportunity to engage with top leaders in our chosen field and understand the inner workings of their organization. In Oregon, we are fortunate to have public sector leaders interested and invested in mentoring the next generation like Chief Information Security Office (CISO) Gary Johnson for the State of Oregon Chief Information Office and State Enterprise Information Service and Charlie Kawasaki, Chief Technical Officer for PacStar and Technology Association of Oregon (TAO). Cyber expertise at all levels is in high demand with millions of vacant job openings,  leaving many organizations with the difficult task of wrestling a complex cyber threat landscape. It’s projected that 3.5 million cyber security jobs will be available globally by 2025, representing a 350% increase since 2017.

Tabling and supporting Tabletop Exercises for the Hatfield Cybersecurity Center at the City County Insurance Services Conference in Salem Summer 2022 (Courtesy of CIS)

Tabling and supporting Tabletop Exercises for the Hatfield Cybersecurity Center at the City County Insurance Services Conference in Salem Summer 2022 (Courtesy of CIS)Tabling and supporting Tabletop Exercises for the Hatfield Cybersecurity Center at the City County Insurance Services Conference in Salem Summer 2022 (Courtesy of CIS)The Hatfield Cyber Fellows program of summer 2022 addressed these gaps by providing a select group of dynamic students with professional development experiences in an emerging field. “Cyber is constantly evolving as a discipline. Our role in higher education is to support learners in building foundational knowledge in problem solving to address escalating cyber threats.” Dr. Birol Yesilada, Principal Investigator of the NCAE-C Securing the Smart Grid Program funding the fellowships. 

One key component of the fellowship opportunity was meeting with established mentors and leaders in the industry. Via zoom conference on August 15, 2022, CISO Gary Johnson conversed informally with 12 distinguished Hatfield Cyber Fellows to answer questions about their career paths in cybersecurity. Gary also shared insight on  how his team works collaboratively to build a risk-based approach to a complex enterprise for information services (e.g. 66 state agencies  and over 45,000 FTEs) to proactively protect Oregon’s public assets including sensitive data and infrastructure. 

State of Oregon EIS Organizational Chart Source: https://www.oregon.gov/das/OSCIO/Pages/OrgStructure.aspx

Photo of Gary Johnson, Chief Information Security Officer, State of Oregon 
Source: https://cyberoregon.com/government/

Since 2013, the State of Oregon has had a consolidated cybersecurity program in accordance with Executive Order 16-13 “Unifying Cybersecurity in Oregon” under the leadership of Governor Kate Brown. It was a surprise to learn that–while cybersecurity reporting is centralized under the CISO including, Risk and Compliance, Security Operations Center and Security Infrastructure–Information Technology services are decentralized under each agency. The inherent disconnect provides a window into how difficult it is to operate cybersecurity uniformly and rationally within existing infrastructures. Gary maintained his proactive posture and positive attitude towards  some of the everyday barriers of working across organizational cultures. In his findings, most people are solutions-oriented and that much of his role is communicating cyber threats to support swift incident responses, and socialization of new policies and protocols. 

Following the weekly sessions with mentors like CISO Gary Johnson, Fellows also engaged in risk assessment evaluation in the public sector through facilitated tabletop exercises (TTX) at the City County Insurance Services (CIS) Annual Conference in Salem and were guests at PGE’s Integrated Operations Center Tour. These activities served as educational platforms to aid Fellows in their discovery of emerging technologies in securing the cyber threat landscape of critical infrastructure and learn the values of their proven acumen in computer science and information security to guide them in becoming competitive candidates for cybersecurity positions. Cyber Fellow Joy Manuel shares her experience in the program, “I appreciate everyone involved including the Fellows. Collaborating and networking are essential elements. This program gave me real-world insight of the various technical and non-technical roles in cybersecurity. I have a newfound perspective and focal point towards my future career goals.”

About the Hatfield Cyber Fellows Program 
In its inaugural year, the Fellows program is part of the NCAE-C Securing the Smart Grid Project 2021-2023. The Cyber Fellows were selected through a competitive recruitment process for a 6-week program facilitated through PSU, Chemeketa Community College, and Portland Community College that focuses on supporting their professional development in cybersecurity within the public sector and meet the following goals:

• Explore cyber policy themes in the public sector to better understand how organizations characterize and mitigate risk
• Reflect on best practices in maturity models, tabletop exercises and training and education resources for critical infrastructure and cybersecurity 
• Practice technical skills through real-world applications in order to serve local governments in Oregon
  
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