June 3, 2025
The New York State Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) today announced the recognition of 18 of its employees as “Cybersecurity Champions” for their significant contributions to support and enhance cybersecurity across New York State. The winners were honored today at the 27th Annual New York State Cybersecurity Conference in front of nearly 1,500 attendees in Albany, New York.
"Our Cybersecurity Champion Award recipients demonstrate exceptional dedication by far surpassing their standard responsibilities to make significant individual and team contributions to keep New York State’s networks, data, and information safe from cyberthreats,” said New York State Chief Information Officer Dru Rai. "Leadership in the field of cybersecurity demands that we continue to nurture the talent and dedication exemplified by the individuals and teams we honor with this recognition today, and we congratulate them for their exceptional achievements in enhancing the state’s cyber posture today and for the future."
"Through the efforts of these Cybersecurity Champions, ITS can provide enhanced integrity, confidentiality and availability of New York State’s systems and data. The contributions of these winners have materially improved our overall cybersecurity posture by mitigating risk and reinforcing our defensive capabilities." said ITS Chief Information Security Officer Chris Desain. "We commend these Champions for their sustained commitment to our operational security and will continue to show our state and our nation that ITS makes cybersecurity happen for New York."
Congratulations to the following 2025 New York State Cybersecurity Champions:
Jenna Burns
Throughout her years in the Chief Information Security Office (CISO), Jenna Burns has contributed to many important initiatives and efforts to improve and enhance the security posture of New York State, including driving the Incident Response program.
Incident response, which encompasses all the strategic functions, processes and actions employed by an organization to detect, respond to and recover from cybersecurity events or breaches, is a critical function that is supported by all bureaus in CISO.
In addition to participating in strategic planning, process development and socialization, Jenna is always ready to take the reins as Incident Commander. She remains cool under pressure and is an amazing leader during the most stressful situations, which often arise due to the nature of incident response.
Even when she is not on duty, Jenna provides guidance, support and mentorship, ensuring her teammates are equipped with the abilities and confidence needed to respond to a cyber incident in an effective and appropriate manner. She offers training sessions to newer employees and improves the overall effectiveness of the CISO office. Jenna demonstrates excellent judgment, communication skills and leadership when participating in cyber incident response. She truly shines when engaging partners and customers alike. Because of her many contributions to cybersecurity, Jenna Burns is truly a NYS Cybersecurity Champion.
Livia Hendrickson
As a manager and leader in the Information Security Engineering (ISE) bureau, Security Architecture and Engineering section, Livia has consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership and dedication to enhancing New York State's cybersecurity landscape. The Security Architecture and Engineering section provides information security architecture, as well as engineering consulting and services, for units of the Chief Information Security Office and other units within ITS. Simply stated, they are responsible for ensuring that ITS reduces risk and provides secure architecture and engineering design support for ITS groups and client agencies.
Livia has played a pivotal role in identifying vulnerabilities and implementing appropriate safeguards to protect sensitive and confidential data. Her innovative approach and commitment to cybersecurity have significantly contributed to the state's efforts in maintaining a secure digital environment. Livia's leadership in cybersecurity is evident through her ability to coordinate complex security programs and collaborate effectively with various teams to achieve common goals.
She exemplifies resilience, expertise and an unwavering commitment to protecting New York State’s digital infrastructure. In a field where technical challenges are often matched by interpersonal ones, Livia always responds with professionalism and clarity, while ensuring security is not an afterthought but rather a fundamental component of every project.
Livia has made significant contributions through her collaboration with the Cloud, AI, and DevSecOps teams. Her expertise in these areas has been instrumental in developing and implementing advanced security measures that leverage the latest technologies.
Her dedication to cybersecurity extends beyond her technical expertise. She is a mentor and a role model for her peers, always willing to share her knowledge and support others in their professional development. Her contributions to the field of cybersecurity are invaluable, and she truly embodies the spirit of a Cybersecurity Champion.
Valerie Lubanko
Valerie serves as ITS Deputy General Counsel and is responsible for providing breach and incident counsel to the NYS CISO. In this capacity, Valerie is always ready to support the CISO team, on days, nights, and weekends, to ensure they have the legal and policy support necessary to make quick decisions during the critical incident response timeframe. Valerie often assists the CISO team in explaining complicated technical, legal and policy issues to supported agencies, as well as internal and external stakeholders, to help drive understanding, consensus and appropriate action as it relates to cyber incidents.
She does all of this with a sense of calm and competence, always urgent but never panicked. Additionally, Valerie has played a significant role in improving the state's cyber incident response processes through her work on developing standard operating procedures, updating policies, providing valuable feedback on cybersecurity legislation and acting as a key contributor to the team who established the state's first cybersecurity legal services centralized contract.
Valerie's commitment to the mission of the state CISO team, coupled with her subject matter expertise and exemplary leadership skills, is a key component to the state's cybersecurity arsenal and the mark of a true Cybersecurity Champion.
NYS ITS Dedicated Security Support Team | DOH
Aisha Minhas, Melkon Abdo, Claudia Lola
The goal of the ITS New York State Department of Health (DOH) Dedicated Support Information Security (ISO) Team is to provide in-depth information security consulting and services that are aligned with the business needs and to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of DOH information and systems. Over the last year, the ITS ISO team dedicated to DOH, led by Aisha Minhas, has maintained a strong focus on managing and mitigating cybersecurity risks to improve the state's security posture. The demand for information security services is increasing, and the team has made significant strides in strengthening the security posture of the systems and solutions provided to DOH.
Some of the ways that the team strengthened the DOH’s security posture over the last year include:
- working with the development teams to resolve over 200 critical/high DOH web application vulnerabilities;
- working to complete 6 penetration tests of DOH applications;
- completing 36 information classifications or reclassifications; and
- completing the agency incident response plan.
For these accomplishments, as well as the team’s continued efforts to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of NYSDOH information and systems, we are honored to recognize Aisha Minhas, Melkon Abdo and Claudia Lola as Cybersecurity Champions.
NYS ITS Cyber Incident Response Team
Premila Melvin, Bill Hensel, Cameron Kollar, Andrew Tsui, Brendan Sweigart, Anthony Mosher
Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) integrates activities to accelerate the remediation of cyberthreats while ensuring that any related digital evidence is not compromised. This function is an integral component of an overall incident response plan. The Cyber Incident Response Team (CIRT), managed by Premila Melvin, is being recognized for their exceptional performance and sustained dedication to operational readiness, quality assurance, mentoring and technological adaptability.
The CIRT team consistently demonstrates outstanding preparedness. They are impressive in their ability to respond swiftly and effectively to a wide range of cyberthreats. What truly sets CIRT apart is their attention to quality control and their ability to adapt rapidly to emerging technologies and devices. Whether assessing critical infrastructure related OT devices, investigating suspicious logon activity on multiple servers, or assisting the New York Security Operations Center (NYSOC) with due diligence investigations, the team demonstrates a culture of innovation while continually fostering a collaborative learning environment.
Their performance and willingness to respond to all DFIR requests makes it easy to understand why we are honored to recognize Premila Melvin, Bill Hensel, Cameron Kollar, Andrew Tsui, Brendan Sweigart and Anthony Mosher as Cybersecurity Champions.
NYS ITS CISO Awareness & Training Team
Jessica E. Smith, Cory Schermerhorn, Carolyn Daigneault, Chanleigh Casey, Dorian Redden, Andrew Dolan
The awareness and training team, led by Jessica Smith, is responsible for all cybersecurity training and awareness activities for ITS, including the NYS Cybersecurity Conference. They have recently introduced phishing simulations and tabletop exercises to their suite of services. Phishing attacks are by far the most common methods used by attackers against NYS agencies and other associated municipalities and organizations. The training team works with agency personnel to perform customized phishing exercises, which provide an understanding of the risks the agency faces and teachable moments for those that fall victim to the phishes. Tabletop exercises allow the team to guide agency and dedicated security support teams through a what-if scenario involving many possible variables to gauge and practice responses before an actual event.
Each of these offerings provides an opportunity for ITS to build relationships and assist agencies in securing their applications and building security awareness. The phishing simulations have been a tremendous success with almost 20 campaigns being conducted for agencies since February of this year.
The work that this team has done has been exceptional. Agencies have provided positive feedback on their experience; one such agency employee said, “The ITS CISO Training department was incredibly cordial and worked closely with my team at every step of the process. Their expertise and diligent efforts were instrumental in ensuring the campaign was rolled out smoothly and effectively.”
About the New York State Office of Information Technology Services
The NYS Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) was established in 2012 and is the largest consolidated IT organization in America. At ITS, we deliver modern technology solutions that connect NYS agencies, entities, commissions, and local governments with millions of New Yorkers.
Our skilled cyber professionals protect the state’s systems and data from intrusion and attack, provide cyber incident response assistance, distribute real-time advisories and alerts, provide managed security services, and deliver comprehensive cybersecurity awareness training for state and local employees. Through the establishment and expansion of the highly successful Joint Security Operations Center, we are now safeguarding 160,000 endpoints, 4600 applications, billions of sensitive records, and have quickly made New York a national leader on cybersecurity.
We have enhanced the customer experience by creating simple, seamless and improved digital services which are easily accessed by our citizens. At ITS, we are guiding the State’s next phase of Artificial Intelligence and helping agencies strengthen their operations, increase productivity and get more done for New York.
We proudly stand by the quality of our products and services and collaborate with suppliers to boost our offerings even more. We leverage data to drive informed decision making that helps government work better for hardworking people and save taxpayer money.
Our talented ITS employees are leaders, innovators and drivers of positive change who have won countless state and national awards. We believe technology is transformational, and we will never stop striving to do better, be better and improve the way we operate.
Want to know more about how ITS, a NYS Agency on the rise, makes IT Happen? Visit our website at its.ny.gov.