South Carolina CIO retires

Jimmy Earley, the director of South Carolina’s division of state information technology, officially retired from state government work at the end of December, StateScoop has learned.

Earley had served as the head of South Carolina’s information technology division since January of 2011 following 12 years working for the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles where he served as both the chief of staff and director of information technology.

Earley’s position in South Carolina was slightly different from those of other chief information officers from around the country as the state had a highly federated model where each of the state’s 72 agencies are responsible for their own IT and security.

One of Earley’s biggest missions was helping the state recover from an October 2012 cybersecurity breach in which the Social Security numbers and credit card information of more than 3.8 million taxpayers were stolen through a phishing attack.

The attack became the prime example of the cybersecurity threats facing states each day and the possible consequences. As a result of the attack, Earley was tasked with solidifying the state’s IT security going forward, leading to a number of new initiatives – namely, bringing in private-sector firm Deloitte to work with the state on cleaning up its security policies and governance structure.

Earley discussed all of these initiatives in an earlier interview with StateScoop.

A spokesman for South Carolina’s Budget and Control Board, which oversaw Earley’s office, said a replacement for Earley was not immediately named.