Cybersecurity vet Adam Tice is Colonial’s first CISO, overseeing the pipeline operator’s information and data security regime, as Cybersecurity Dive reports. Since February 2021, Tice had been running cybersecurity and threat intelligence at Silicon Valley Bank. Previously, he was a senior vice president at Equifax following the credit reporting agency’s 2017 data breach.
Last May, Colonial’s operations were disrupted for six days by an expansive ransomware attack, forcing the company to pay a $4.4 million Bitcoin ransom (the feds ultimately retrieved $2.3 million). A Colonial spokesperson is quoted as saying that Tice’s hire reflects the company’s “commitment to elevate security practices across the enterprise.”
Colonial is searching for a new chief information officer to succeed Marie Mouchet, who is retiring in late April as part of what the spokesperson describes as a planned transition. Mouchet will remain in her role during the new CISO’s onboarding process.
Elsewhere, Fortress Information Security—a supply chain cybersecurity provider for critical infrastructure organizations—has named Betsy Soehren-Jones as its new chief information officer, as Security Magazine reports. Previously, Soehren-Jones was director of cyber strategy and policy at energy giant Exelon.
In her new role, Soehren-Jones will lead Fortress’ energy business, including sales and marketing along with the human resources, public policy, sales and strategy teams serving the company’s critical infrastructure, manufacturing and Department of Defense business lines.
In other cybersecurity personnel announcements, artificial intelligence company Altair has promoted Jeff Marraccini, a 25-year veteran of the firm, to chief information security officer. According to a press release, Marracini was previously Altair’s senior vice president of cloud strategy and technology.
Separately, cybersecurity startup Snyk has hired a new legal chief, Karyn Smith, who formerly held the same role at communications platform company Twilio, as Reuters reports.
Plus, cybersecurity firm Cohere has announced both a new chief technology officer, Evin Hernandez, and a new chief information security officer, Haseen Usman Ahmed.