Rafael Linares is the county’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). As the CISO Rafael is not only responsible for the ongoing confidentially, integrity, and availability of the County's information assets across multiple departments/agencies but is also tasked with ensuring that a comprehensive information security program is constantly matured, evolved, and effectively maintained. The comprehensive information security program Mr. Linares oversees includes effective business alignment and support, management of information security controls, proper and consistent operations of the information security function, effective application of industry recognized information security framework(s), disaster recovery and business continuity planning, support and protection of suitable emerging technologies, Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC), identity and access management, information security training and education, and physical security.
Prior to joining the County, Mr. Linares held executive level information security roles at large multi-national organizations including Zurich Insurance Group, 20th Century Fox, TESCO PLC, ING, and Unisys, where he was responsible for architecture, engineering, and operations of information security solutions across the enterprise.
Mr. Linares is a Certified Information Systems Security Manager (CISM) and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), as well as certifications in Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), and Lean Six Sigma, and earned a degree in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix.