Liebert began his new role as the company’s CISO last month, having been previously the CISO for Cerner Corp.
For almost three years, from November 2016 to June 2019, Liebert was the state CISO and director of the Office of Information Security within the California Department of Technology. During his tenure, California became the first state in the nation to evaluate departments and agencies for their cybersecurity preparedness and to grade them on their “maturity metrics.”
Liebert told Techwire that he was drawn to LifeOmic not only by its platforms and solutions but also by the company’s commitment to information security.
“I’ve been doing this for a while, and I’ve got to say, this is probably one of the most mature security programs I’ve seen,” Liebert said. “They are top-notch. The amount of automation and expertise that this team has is just unbelievable. Right now, my focus is continuing the great work they’re doing and building on it. LifeOmic is going through a period of explosive growth.”
Among LifeOmic’s offerings is an app that collates and tracks one’s health data, he said, “your blood pressure, the amount of calories you eat, your ketones – all these different aspects that people have maybe tracked individually, or some of your bloodwork is done at a hospital; it’s scattered. … This stitches it all together and is able to give you a comprehensive understanding of where you are, from a health perspective, but also goals, where you should go. And that’s just one component of the business.”
Liebert said he’s also impressed with how LifeOmic uses data.
“One of the things that they’re really excelling at is taking large sets of data, applying machine learning to it, and coming up with informed recommendations that doctors can take a look at. And some of them are having these ‘aha’ moments: ‘Oh, I never would have thought of applying this type of methodology to this illness.’”
Because the company deals with private health data, that poses special security challenges, Liebert noted.
“From a security perspective, I love it,” he said. “We’re making sure privacy issues are handled, people’s data is being secured. … They have a very strong commitment to security and privacy, and it shows,” he said. “I get to have fun with not just handling the top end practitioner informatics health care, but I get to do mobile (apps) now, I get to have multimillion-user apps and all the data associated with that. It’s great. It’s a lot of fun.”
Liebert said he’s continuing his involvement in other ventures, as well. He was commander of Cyber Operations for the California State Guard from July 2017 through last month, and though he stepped down from that role, he continues to advise the Guard. He’s also active in a cryptocurrency investment fund and serves on a couple of corporate boards of advisers.
