WA Police hires a CISO

Western Australia Police has hired a former university CISO and head of a drone maker as its inagural information security boss.

Hai Tran joined the agency last month, ending an almost three-year stint as the head of the Australian arm of Coptercam, a maker of remotely piloted aircraft.

A WA Police spokesperson said Tran had stepped down from the role following his appointment to the agency, and had submitted paperwork for change of directorship with ASIC.

Tran also has experience in the infosec industry, previously spending four years as the chief information security officer at Curtin University of Technology, a role he finished in January 2013.

Prior to that, he filled a number of IT security posts at the federal Finance department, Macquarie Telecom, and security services company CyberTrust.

Earlier this year the force revealed it was looking for a chief information security officer to run security and risk for the department in response to the "heightened threat level to law enforcement".

WA Police CIO Mike Schuman told iTnews at the time it was "critical to have credible, executive leadership with expertise in cybersecurity".

"WA Police is seeking a strategic thinker to take a risk-based approach to security decision making and a fact-based approach to their communications both internally and externally," he said.

Tran's remit involves security governance and compliance; the development of a strategic infosec roadmap; risk management; third-party audits and white-hat services; enterprise cybersecurity awareness; and ensuring infosec is embedded in project lifecycles.