QLD government appoints interim CISO

After retirement of former security chief.

The Queensland government has named Adam Smith as its interim chief information security officer after the retirement of Rob Champion from the role.

Champion had served as state government CISO for seven years, with Smith as deputy CISO.

A Queensland department of customer services, open data and small and family business spokesperson confirmed the interim appointment to iTnews.

Champion wrote in a LinkedIn post that "it has been a privilege to serve in this position for the past seven years and I thank all the team members, colleagues and collaborators that have made it a great journey."

In a separate post, Champion wrote that Queensland “is well placed” to meet the rising challenges of cyber with challenges “unlikely to diminish any time soon.”

“We have built a great team of security stakeholders across Queensland government and the state. We all have a part to play."

Champion first joined the state government back in 1991 before taking on other IT roles across various industries.

This includes holding the cyber security unit executive director role for over four years.

He held multiple security roles across his career, including with whole-of-government digital platforms and technology provider CITEC and UK luxury department store Harvey Nichols.