Northern Beaches Council seeking CISO

Sydney’s Northern Beaches Council is looking for its first chief information security officer.

Formed by the 2016 amalgamation of Manly, Pittwater and Warringah councils, the Northern Beaches Council serves more than 260,000 residents, and in 2021-2022 had revenue of more than $358 million.

The CISO will be working in the council’s workforce and technology division, reporting to the council’s chief technology officer, Michael Turner.

Among other things, the CISO will be responsible for developing a security management framework based on the Australian Signals Directorate’s Essential Eight controls, and America’s National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) cyber security framework.

iTnews understands the role was created under the council’s resilience strategy, which was adopted by the council in June 2022.

The strategy notes that “cyber attack” and “digital network failure” were among the top six community concerns that drove the resilience strategy.

The strategy also said the council had a low preparedness for cyber attacks, partly because of “the varying ownership arrangements of digital network systems”.

The council has also been working on a number of digital projects in recent times, including implementing new SAP modules, and rolling out improved customer request management and reporting tools.