The Gate 15 Interview EP 40: The Return of Kim Milford! On being a CISO, cyber resilience in higher ed and… cumquats?

In this episode of The Gate 15 Interview, Andy Jabbour welcomes back Kim Milford, Deputy Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In April 2023, Kim Milford accepted the role of Deputy CIO and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Illinois. In this role, Ms. Milford draws on her experience in research and education to lead strategy, direction, and innovation related to cybersecurity, identity protection, and privacy. Prior to this role, Kim was the Executive Director and CISO at the REN-ISAC, working with research and education institutions and partners to provide member institutions with the information and tools to better defend their environments from threats. Her service in higher education began in 1998 having held leadership positions at Indiana University, the University of Rochester, and University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kim provides cybersecurity expertise and presentations at national and regional conferences and seminars. She guest lectures and teaches cybersecurity courses and training, and has authored/co-authored many articles on the subject. Ms. Milford has a B.S. in Accounting from Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri and a J.D. from John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois. Kim on LinkedIn. In the discussion we address: Life as a CISO Social engineering and taking a more human-centric approach to security Identity as an initial attack vector Challenges around regulated research Private-Public Partnership Cyber Resilience Liberated thinking on strategy and technology Digital Twins and privacy (link to Gartner) And we play Three Questions with Kim Milford A few references mentioned in or relevant to our discussion include: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Office of the Chief Information Officer Technology Services EDUCAUSE CISA The Power of Resilience, 09 Aug 2023 The Gate 15 Interview: From Blended Threats to Pandemic Lessons Learned, a Candid Conversation on Higher Education Security and Resilience with REN-ISAC’s Kim Milford (23 November 2020) Gate 15: Security Spotlight: An Interview with REN-ISAC Executive Director, Kim Milford (11 June 2018)