Florida State University Information TechnologiesThe third -party risk management program was appointed winner of the Foundry CSO Prize in 2025, one of the most prestigious honors for security professionals.
The OSCs reward honor organizations which demonstrate excellence in terms of safety and risk management.
FSU’s risk management program has been honored for its avant-garde approach to manage the risks of external sellers, helping the university to maintain solid standards of safety and compliance through its operations.
“Winning this award highlights the unshakable dedication of our team to maintain the highest standards of security and compliance,” said Jonathan Fozard, associate vice-president and information chief at FSU. “It is a testimony to continuous success that we see in the state of Florida – we are going into the ranking, by attracting national and global attention, and the security team is recognized as part of this momentum.”
The project was launched following an audit conclusion in 2021 in order to strengthen supplier safety practices. The FSU security and confidentiality office has teamed up with the University’s supply office to develop a process guaranteeing that suppliers offering essential commercial functions are undergoing independent information security audits. By using a risk -based approach, the program assesses supplier reports to assess the adequacy of their security measures.
“By combining independent security audit journals and by attacking the surface management analyzes of suppliers who provide mission critical commercial services to the FSU, the team has done stellar work and is able to identify risks within our third parties, to help them proactively remedy, and to better protect the confidentiality, integrity of integrity and the availability of systems and data FSU, ”said Bill Hunkapiller, information security manager at FSU.
The project involved several key stages, including the creation of an examination process for web / cloud services, forcing suppliers to include provisions for independent information security audits and guarantee alignment with audit requirements through updates to the risk register and the annual work plan.
“This project means a lot for us,” said Jeremy Anderson, head of computer security and confidentiality risks. “When we started, we sail on a Uncharted territory. It took a collaboration, a creative problem of problems and a lot of determination to bring everything together.
“Our goal is to make sure that everyone manages FSU data is to do so safely and in a responsibility,” said Keith Bennett, responsible for IT security and confidentiality risks. “Our team is committed to improving continuous and having an even more important impact – not only at FSU, but in higher education.”
The winners and enthrones of the CSO 2025 prize will be honored at the conference and CSO prices this fall.
“The security team is a national and global leadership – which reflects the management established by the president of the FSU, Richard McCullough, and the recent leadership changes in Florida state,” said Fozard. “This recognition highlights not only our responses to audits, but also the quality of our daily work.”
For more information, visit its.fsu.edu.