Meet CBA's new IT security chief

The Commonwealth Bank has a new executive leading its IT security operations after luring a cyber specialist from Israel to tackle one of Australia's biggest infosec jobs.

Yuval Illuz

Yuval Illuz joined the bank last week as its chief information security and trust officer, working within its enterprise services group under CIO David Whiteing. He leads a team of several hundred workers and a multi-million dollar budget.

Illuz replaces Ben Heyes, who was forced to take long-term leave in the middle of last year for health reasons.

Heyes had served in the role since his former position of cyber security general manager was expanded in 2015.

During his time in the job he boosted the profile of information security across the bank, helped draft the government's national cyber security strategy, and partnered with UNSW in an effort to address the cyber skills shortage.

Illuz left a one-year role as the global chief security officer for gaming software supplier Playtech in Israel to take on his new gig.

The executive spent the 12 years prior at telco supplier ECI Telecom in information security and infrastructure/innovation roles.

He holds a Bachelor of Science majoring in computer science and business administration from The Open University of Israel, as well as a Masters degree in information systems from Clark University.

Illuz also serves as an advisor to several security start-ups.