When Hord Tipton became CIO of the U.S. Dept. of Interior, he knew he would be wrestling with some daunting IT issues, especially in security. In fact, the Dept. was reeling from a December 2001 court order that disconnected all Interior systems from the Internet. That order resulted in a multi-million lawsuit brought by beneficiaries of Individual Indian Trust accounts held by the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, based in part on hackers burrowing into the Trust's accounts.
By making a good case for business systems security, Tipton managed to convince the Interior's officials to increase the $4 million annual IT network and security budget to $100 million. Tipton and his staff spent the next four years upgrading systems security and getting all of the Interior's systems reconnected to the Internet. Tipton even gave his IT staff one year to become certified in security. When he received a lot of staff resistance to his challenge, the 60-year old Tipton did something unusual for a CIO. He became a Certified Information Systems Security Professional. This certification matched the job at hand.
Under Tipton's leadership, the U.S. Dept. of the Interior established sound IT security policies and guidelines, and initiated testing and IT security training programs throughout the agency. Now retired from government service, Tipton is a board member of ISC2, the organization that oversees the CISSP exam and maintains the credentialing process.
Bio
W. Hord Tipton is the former chief information officer for the U.S. Department of the Interior. He is now a board member for ISC2, the organization that maintains the certified information security engineering professional exam and credentialing process. In January 2007, he retired from the government to become president of Ironman Technologies. He previously served as CIO in the Bureau of Land Management's Energy and Minerals, and Resource Use and Protection. He also served as state director for the Bureau of Land Protection, director for offshore minerals and international affairs for the Minerals Management Service, and as acting director of the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation and Enforcement. Tipton holds a master's degree in engineering administration from the University of Tennessee. He received the President's Meritorious Service Rank Award and the Silver Executive Leadership Award from the Secretary of the Interior.
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