Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate has hired Jeff Franklin as the chief cybersecurity officer, Pate announced on Thursday morning. Franklin has served as the State of Iowa’s Chief Information Security Officer for the past 10 years. In his new role, Franklin will lead efforts to protect Iowa’s elections in 2020 and beyond, the office said. Franklin’s previous work aided the launch of the Roadmap to Election Cybersecurity initiative, which was recognized by the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Chief Information Officers. Franklin’s new role will be primarily researching the rapidly evolving world of cyberattacks to help the Secretary of State’s office stay ahead of potential threats. Franklin served for eight months in 2019 as the state’s interim CIO and is on the executive committee for the Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center.
