State of Ohio

Ohio's state government operates at a scale that makes it a persistent target. With 11.8 million residents relying on digital services - from OhioBenefits eligibility checks to the Ohio Business Gateway - the attack surface is enormous. The threat model includes everything from ransomware disrupting critical services to sophisticated phishing campaigns aimed at exfiltrating citizen data held across numerous state agencies. This isn't theoretical; it's the daily operational reality for the tens of thousands of workers managing state infrastructure. The cybersecurity challenge is securing a sprawling, interconnected ecosystem of public-facing platforms. Ohio.gov is the central hub, but the real complexity lies in the backend systems feeding it: job placement through OhioMeansJobs, benefits administration, and business licensing portals. Each is a potential ingress point. The work involves defending legacy systems alongside modern web applications, enforcing identity management across a massive, distributed workforce, and maintaining integrity in systems where a breach has direct, measurable consequences for millions. Ohio was named America's Top State for Business in 2026, a designation that depends on operational trust. Security roles here focus on domains like network defense, incident response, vulnerability management, and policy enforcement across state agencies. The objective is straightforward: protect the data and availability of services that form the digital backbone of a major state government, ensuring continuity for residents and businesses that have no alternative provider.