The Gate 15 Interview: The Return of Kim Milford! On being a CISO, cyber resilience in higher ed and… kumquats?

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In this episode of The Gate 15 Interview, Andy Jabbour welcomes back Kim MilfordDeputy Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In April 2023, Kim Milford accepted the role of Deputy CIO and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Illinois. In this role, Ms. Milford draws on her experience in research and education to lead strategy, direction, and innovation related to cybersecurity, identity protection, and privacy. Prior to this role, Kim was the Executive Director and CISO at the REN-ISAC, working with research and education institutions and partners to provide member institutions with the information and tools to better defend their environments from threats. Her service in higher education began in 1998 having held leadership positions at Indiana University, the University of Rochester, and University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kim provides cybersecurity expertise and presentations at national and regional conferences and seminars.  She guest lectures and teaches cybersecurity courses and training, and has authored/co-authored many articles on the subject.  Ms. Milford has a B.S. in Accounting from Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri and a J.D. from John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois.

In the discussion we address:

  • Life as a CISO
  • Social engineering and taking a more human-centric approach to security 
  • Identity as an initial attack vector
  • Challenges around regulated research
  • Private-Public Partnership
  • Cyber Resilience 
  • Liberated thinking on strategy and technology 
  • Digital Twins and privacy
  • And we play Three Questions with Kim Milford 

‘Jen Easterly’s a badass’

– Kim Milford

A few references mentioned in or relevant to our discussion include:


The Gate 15 Interview is a monthly interview between Gate 15’s founder and Managing Director, Andy Jabbour and guests from throughout the homeland security risk management community addressing a wide range of all-hazards topics and issues. Read more about Gate 15’s full podcast menu at our Podcast page. You can subscribe and enjoy all the Gate 15 Podcasts on Spotify for PodcastersAppleSpotifyGoogle, as well as other locations accessible from the Anchor link. Week-to-week, you can hear and learn more about our all-hazards threats, risks, mitigation and other issues impacting homeland security risk management from our team as well as our regular and special guests. The full podcast menu includes:

Read more about Gate 15’s full podcast menu at our Podcast page. You can subscribe and enjoy all the Gate 15 Podcasts on Spotify for PodcastersAppleSpotifyGoogle, as well as other locations accessible from the Spotify for Podcasters link. Week-to-week, you can hear and learn more about our all-hazards threats, risks, mitigation and other issues impacting homeland security risk management from our team as well as our regular and special guests. The full podcast menu includes:

  • The Security Sprint is our weekly rundown of the week’s notable all-hazards security news, risks and threats and some of the key focus areas for organizations to consider behind the headlines. Gate 15 team members discuss physical security, cybersecurity, natural hazards, health threats and other issues across our environment.
  • Nerd Out! Security Panel Discussion, moderated by Dave Pounder, focuses on physical security topics including terrorism, extremism, hostile events, and other pertinent topics.
  • The Gate 15 Interview, is a monthly interview between Gate 15’s founder and Managing Director, Andy Jabbour and guests from throughout the homeland security risk management community addressing a wide range of all-hazards topics and issues.
  • The Cybersecurity Evangelist, with Jennifer Lyn Walker, is a cybersecurity-focused discussion with Jen and invited guests. This is presently a Gate 15 special podcast and occasionally is updated on our Gate 15 podcast channel.
  • The Risk Roundtable, was a monthly discussion among our team and occasional guests exploring the all-hazards threats and risks impacting the United States and internationally. This was suspended in September 2023.

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