NSW finds new permanent cyber chief

The NSW government has appointed Sydney Metro’s Marie Patane to be its new chief cyber security officer.

Marie Patane

Joining on February 24, Patane steps permanently into the role vacated by Tony Chapman last year following his departure to Home Affairs [pdf].

Since July, the role has been held on an acting basis by Andrew Karvinen, who is understood to have driven the integration of ID Support into Cyber Security NSW. 

In a statement about Patane’s appointment, a NSW Department of Customer Service spokesperson said: “[Patane] is a recognised leader in her field and holds multiple qualifications in technical and leadership disciplines.”

The spokesperson said Patane will be tasked with “delivering robust security strategies to protect the people of NSW and its critical systems”.

Patane was most recently executive director of enterprise security at Sydney Metro, where she joined from The Star Entertainment Group in 2020.

Prior to that, she spent almost 13 years at Qantas in a variety of roles. 

Last year, the NSW government was urged to undertake “cyber security uplifts” after collectively reporting 52 data breaches in the seven months to June 2024.