About The Author

Mark Weatherford is the executive officer and chief information security officer (CISO) for California's Office of Information Security and Privacy Protection. Appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Weatherford has broad authority over California's cyber-security activities and is responsible for state government information security program policy, standards and procedures.

Weatherford has written articles for a number of industry publications, including SC Magazine, CSO Undercover and CSO magazine.

Weatherford previously served as the CISO of Colorado, where he was appointed by two successive governors to develop and lead the state information security program. A former cryptologic officer, Weatherford led the U.S. Navy's Computer Network Defense Operations and the Naval Computer Incident Response Team, and as a member of the Raytheon Co., he successfully built and established the San Diego Navy/Marine Corps Intranet Security Operations Center.

Weatherford holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Arizona and a Master of Science degree from the Naval Postgraduate School. He is a member of the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers, the Information Systems Security Association, and the Information Systems Audit and Control Association. He also holds Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) certifications. Weatherford was recently awarded Information Security magazine's prestigious Security 7 Award for 2008.