Western Sydney University creates CISO role

Western Sydney University has appointed former parliamentary cyber security director Nadia Taggart to the newly-created role of chief information security officer (CISO).

Nadia Taggart.

Taggart stepped into the role in January; it was created as a response to the rise of cyber risks faced by the education sector.

She - along with the university’s chief information and digital officer Scott Snyder - reports to senior vice-president Peter Pickering. Snyder took on the CIDO role last September.

Taggart wrote on LinkedIn that the university had "amazing initiatives and plans for the next few years.”

She was formerly the drector of cyber security operations at the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) within parliament. That role has since been taken over by the department’s director of security architecture, Leo Wu.

A DPS spokesperson told iTnews that Wu has “10 years of experience driving cyber security across government”

“His appointment further strengthens the cyber security operations area of DPS that plays a key role in cyber security detection and response capability. This role reports directly to the CISO, Toby Amodio,” the spokesperson added.

Taggart had previously worked across a number of government departments in various cyber-based roles, including with Defence.