Information Security Officer

The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) is seeking a highly qualified cybersecurity incident response professional to lead the agency’s incident response program in alignment with VITA procedures, Commonwealth security requirements, and applicable regulations. This role serves as the primary DBHDS point of contact with VITA and oversees incidents from identification through triage, containment, eradication, recovery, remediation, and closure while assessing severity, business impact, affected systems, data exposure, and risks to agency operations.

The position coordinates responses to malware, ransomware, phishing, compromised accounts, unauthorized access, data loss, denial of service events, insider threats, exploited vulnerabilities, and potential PHI breaches. Responsibilities include analyzing security alerts and logs, supporting forensic investigations and evidence preservation, maintaining chain of custody documentation, and assisting with root cause analysis. The role also prepares incident documentation, timelines, reports, briefings, and corrective action tracking, and provides guidance on incident reporting, escalation, and evidence handling to agency personnel.

Additional duties include maintaining incident response policies, procedures, playbooks, and communication processes; coordinating quarterly tabletop exercises in accordance with SEC 530; supporting audits, assessments, FOIA requests, subpoenas, investigations, and ServiceNow ticketing; and providing 24/7 on call support for urgent incidents. The position collaborates with infrastructure, identity, vulnerability management, applications, business units, CSBs, vendors, and VITA to support continuity planning, disaster recovery testing, cyber resilience activities, post incident reviews, compliance efforts, and continuous improvement of DBHDS’s incident response capabilities.

• Experience leading or coordinating cybersecurity incident response in an enterprise, government, healthcare, or public sector environment.
• Knowledge of the cybersecurity incident lifecycle, including identification, triage, containment, eradication, recovery, and closure.
• Experience responding to major incident types such as ransomware, phishing, compromised accounts, unauthorized access, data loss, DDoS, insider threats, and PHI/PII breaches.
• Ability to analyze and interpret security alerts, logs, endpoint and network activity, vulnerability data, and threat intelligence.
• Experience supporting forensic investigations, evidence preservation, chain-of-custody processes, and root cause analysis.
• Ability to prepare accurate documentation, incident reports, timelines, executive briefings, and corrective action tracking.
• Strong communication, analytical, organizational, and judgment skills, with the ability to work effectively under pressure and protect confidential information.

Additional Considerations

• Experience working within Virginia state government, VITA, or another centralized public sector cybersecurity organization.
• Professional certifications such as CISSP, CISM, Security+, CySA+, GCIH, GCIA, or GCFA.
• Experience in environments handling PHI or sensitive client information (healthcare, behavioral health, human services).
• Familiarity with Commonwealth security standards, SEC 530 requirements, NIST guidance, or similar frameworks.