Services Australia gets new CISO

Services Australia has appointed a new chief information security officer, after former CISO Maria Milosavljevic left to lead the Department of Defence’s latest data maturity push.

iTnews can reveal Janice Law, who is currently overseeing the agency’s welfare payments infrastructure transformation (WPIT) program, will take up the top job in mid-March.

Her appointment as was announced internally to the technology and digital programs branch on Friday.

Milosavljevic quietly left Services Australia this month to become Defence's first-ever chief data integration officer, replacing acting CIDO Teresa Blair.

The role was created after Defence created its first-ever data strategy last year to lift the department’s data maturity and ensure it becomes a “more data-informed organisation”.

Milosavljevic had led Services Australia’s cyber security operations since March 2021, having initially joined the agency as chief data officer in January 2019.

A Services Australia spokesperson said Law will bring “extensive cyber security and cyber management skills” to the cyber security general manager role.

Prior to joining Services Australia as a general manager in August 2020, she spent almost a decade with Defence.

“During Ms Law’s extensive career with [Defence] she led complex defensive cyber capabilities to enable Australian Defence Force operations,” the spokesperson said.

She also gained “deep policy, governance, project management and ICT investment experience” from working on key projects.

Projects included the billion-dollar fixed telecommunications network replacement, known as Joint Project 2047, and centralised processing.

The spokesperson said Law will lead the agency's 24/7 cyber security operations centre, which “manages cyber intelligence, rapid detection and response”.