![\"Vitaliy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Vitaliy-Panych.jpg\")
Vitaliy Panych<\/p>\nCalifornia Chief Information Security Officer Vitaliy Panych will step down after seven years leading the state\u2019s cybersecurity strategy, he announced on social media last week.<\/p>\n
Vitaliy Panych<\/p>\n
Panych, whom Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed in 2021, after serving nearly two years in an acting capacity, helped steer California through a period of rapidly evolving cybersecurity threats \u2014 including the COVID-19 pandemic, escalating ransomware attacks and the state\u2019s growing adoption of artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
Panych\u2019s departure leaves one of state government\u2019s highest-profile technology leadership positions open as California continues confronting increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lost sleep over this one for many months. The decision was not easy, and here is why,\u201d Panych wrote in a LinkedIn post<\/a> on Friday. \u201cBeing CISO of California is an honor and a privilege, even with the punishing challenges that come with it. We prevailed through them as one cyber community, with incredible support from our administration.\u201d<\/p>\n Shortly after his appointment, Panych told this publication<\/a> he hoped to strengthen the California Cybersecurity Integration Center, expand continuous network monitoring across the executive branch and automate security controls rather than periodically check for compliance.<\/p>\n Panych helped advanced Cal-Secure, a cybersecurity roadmap that established for executive agencies a common framework that emphasizes zero-trust architecture, continuous monitoring, identity management and stronger collaboration across state and local governments. He argued<\/a> that cybersecurity should be embedded into government operations rather than treated as a standalone IT function, an approach reflected in California\u2019s investments in enterprise security capabilities and statewide coordination.<\/p>\n \u201cWe now help uplift thousands of local and educational jurisdictions that partner with CDT\u2019s Office of Information Security cyber defense and operations teams and the Cal-CSIC,\u201d Panych wore in his LinkedIn post. \u201cWe pushed those operations to grow from concept with a handful of operators into hundreds strong reducing risk.\u201d<\/p>\n Panych received national recognition for his work, earning the 2022 NASCIO Thomas M. Jarrett State Cybersecurity Leadership Award<\/a> and a 2023 CyberScoop 50 Government Leadership Award<\/a>. <\/p>\n Before becoming state CISO, he held cybersecurity leadership roles at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Employment Development Department and Franchise Tax Board, building a career in state government that began in 2003.<\/p>\n Panych said he\u2019s joining an international technology company that \u201cdesigns, builds, and deploys digital infrastructure for large enterprises and government agencies, specializing in AI, cybersecurity, cloud, and software development.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCalifornia is strong, solid, and safer thanks to us all. The leadership runs deep, from the administration to secretaries, directors, ISOs, and every team member. I always wanted to make everyone a risk-minded security practitioner. I think we did just that,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI am not leaving the fight. I am widening the front.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\tWritten by Sophia Fox-Sowell![\"Sophia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785175027_603_sophiafox.jpg\")
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\n\t\t\tSophia Fox-Sowell reports on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and government regulation for StateScoop. She was previously a multimedia producer for CNET, where her coverage focused on private sector innovation in food production, climate change and space through podcasts and video content. She earned her bachelor\u2019s in anthropology at Wagner College and master\u2019s in media innovation from Northeastern University.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California Chief Information Security Officer Vitaliy Panych will step down after seven years leading the state\u2019s cybersecurity strategy,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,165697,71372,165698],"class_list":["post-414082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-ciso","tag-state-local-news","tag-tech-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}