Vitaliy Panych is stepping down as California’s chief information security officer (CISO) after serving in the position for nearly eight years.
In a July 24 LinkedIn post, Panych said he is returning to industry at “a global tech solutions provider that designs, builds, and deploys digital infrastructure for large enterprises and government agencies.”
“Being CISO of California is an honor and a privilege, even with the punishing challenges that come with it,” Panych wrote. “We prevailed through them as one cyber community, with incredible support from our administration. I cannot express enough gratitude to the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom … for the support, motivation, and inspiration over these last 8 years.”
In his post, Panych highlighted the California Department of Technology’s work to launch Cal-Secure, California’s first multi-year cybersecurity roadmap, under his tenure.
Panych also noted the “thousands of incidents” his team navigated, as well as recoveries through major cyber incidents such as the SolarWinds breach and Log4j vulnerability.
“Much love and respect to the thousands of practitioners we all work with. California is strong, solid, and safer thanks to us all,” he added. “The leadership runs deep, from the administration to secretaries, directors, ISOs, and every team member.”
Panych has served as California’s CISO since February 2019, and he served a brief stint as the deputy CISO before that.
