Oklahoma ‘bids adieu’ to CISO Matt Singleton
Oklahoma Chief Information Security Officer Matt Singleton resigned Wednesday after more than three years in the role, the state Office of Management and Enterprise Services announced.
The agency announced Singleton’s departure in a tweet: “Today we bid adieu to our cyber commander Matt Singleton!” the post read.
Singleton was named CISO in July 2019, after several years as OMES’ chief of operations and accountability. As Oklahoma’s top cybersecurity official, he was responsible for writing the state government’s first cyber strategy, including implementing a third-party risk management program and adopting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s cybersecurity and privacy frameworks.
Oklahoma also undertook several new intelligence-sharing steps during Singleton’s tenure, including the launch of a statewide information sharing and analysis center called the OK-ISAC. Oklahoma also engaged in information-sharing efforts with with neighboring states including Arkansas, Colorado and Texas, according to Singleton’s LinkedIn profile.
Singleton was also a promoter of zero-trust architecture, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when — with tens of thousands of state employees working from home — OMES’ cybersecurity team completed more than three dozen projects, including standing up new proxy servers, upgraded VPNs, endpoint detection and network intrusion systems.
“We’ve got to untangle the hairball,” he told StateScoop in March 2021. “When you’re trying to allow state workers to have remote access, you really have to understand how all those things talk to each other. Because the consolidation was not complete, we had to do a lot of discovery and design on the fly.”
Singleton spent a total of 11 years with Oklahoma’s state government, starting in November 2011 as chief information officer for education. He was previously a director of IT services and strategic ventures at the University of Oklahoma, where earlier this year he became an adjunct professor teaching a cybersecurity analytics course.
“It’s bitter sweet to see Matt move on to his next challenges in the private sector. He’s been a faithful and hugely impactful public servant for the State of Oklahoma and we are so appreciative of his willingness to serve our citizens for over 20 years,” OMES spokesman Caden Cleveland wrote in an emailed statement to StateScoop. “In his role as Chief Information Security Officer, he showcased an enthusiastic spirit of collaboration that has advanced Oklahoma’s cybersecurity posture to be among national leaders. We wish Matt all the success and happiness as he takes on new challenges in his future endeavors.”
This story has been updated.
