New Wellpoint CISO Naidoo Embraces Risk

Newly appointed Wellpoint vice president and chief information security officer (CISO) Shamla Naidoo thinks nothing of leaping out of an airplane in flight. The licensed skydiver insists that it's simply a matter of "making sure you follow every step methodically and correctly." As a sport, she says, "skydiving is very safe -- much like my job!"

Along with her methodical approach to risk, Naidoo brings over 24 years of experience in various areas of IT, including her most recent role as CISO of Chicago-based Northern Trust Corp. With her experience in financial services, Naidoo believes she can bring especially valuable experience to her current role. "Financial services has been regulated far longer than most healthcare industries," she notes.

Two of Naidoo's top priorities at Wellpoint are a review of the health insurer's access management profile and data protection lifecycle. "A third priority I will work on very early is how we engage with third-party service providers, ensuring that they are subject to the same rules that we are as an organization with regard to security and privacy," she says.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio