The top cybersecurity spot was previously occupied by Arlen Fletcher, who served with the state's IT agency, the department of Enterprise Technology Services (ETS), from October of 2017 through November of 2019.
Walsh, who replaced Fletcher in January, previously worked as a network and security supervisor for the ETS for nearly 12 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In that role, Walsh was the supervisor of a security team that performed the "management, maintenance and administration" of the agency's firewall services, VPN services, intrusion detection systems and network vulnerability assessment systems. In this role, he frequently worked directly with the CISO.
For Walsh, it's been a hectic start to the job, as the COVID-19 virus has forced the state's government to go mostly remote. As is the case for many other governments across the country, this has presented Wyoming's cybersecurity staff with an assortment of new challenges. He said that over the past several weeks he's been focused mostly on making sure that staff migrating to telecommuting setups have been properly equipped and secured.
"Coming into the new position, I've had all these ideas and things I want to get implemented, but all of that has been put on hold for the time being," he said. "For now it's a matter of stepping back, making sure everybody's secure, and that they can work and as things start going back to normal we'll be able think about pushing new initiatives."
Walsh told Government Technology that among the things he wants to accomplish, growing Wyoming's government cyberworkforce retention is a big one.
"I definitely want to promote within and encourage people within the state to pursue and take these jobs," he said. "Overall I'm excited to take this job. It's a great opportunity to protect the people of Wyoming."
