Permanent VA CISO

Lynette Sherrill to Permanently Assume CISO Role at the Department of Veterans Affairs

Lynette Sherrill has been named chief information security officer and deputy assistant secretary for information security at the Department of Veterans Affairs, permanently taking charge of the roles she had been holding in an acting capacity. Her appointment marks the end of lengthy efforts to replace Paul Cunningham, who retired from the position in June.

Sherrill was executive director of enterprise command operations prior to becoming CISO, responsible for VA’s enterprise service desk, command center and major incident problem management teams.

According to an internal email circulated by VA’s chief information officer, Kurt DelBene, Sherrill will lead cybersecurity and risk management efforts to ensure secure and reliable information system operations, FedScoop reported Monday.

DelBene added that as acting CISO, Sherrill had already overseen major initiatives within the agency such as the zero trust cybersecurity plan, and is working to enable the Office of Information and Technology to rapidly address cyber threats through a continuous systems and metrics review.

Multiple efforts to improve VA’s cyber posture are ongoing. In June, DelBene requested more cyber workforce funding from Congress at a House Veterans Committee hearing. Lawmakers introduced a bill in April that would institute a third-party audit of the agency’s resilience against cyberattacks.