Stung by a couple of damaging IT outages in recent months, Delta Air Lines has created a new executive infosec position.
Former bank executive Deborah Wheeler has been named as its first chief information security officer.
Wheeler was previously chief information security officer at Freddie Mac, and held the same post at Ally Financial and Fifth Third Bank.
She reports to chief information officer Rahul Samant.
The airline says the new position ‘will bolster Delta’s strong cyber security position and is part of the airline’s broader IT effort to grow Delta into a global IT leader.’
The carrier was forced to cancel more than 2,000 flights over multiple days in August due to an IT glitch.
That disruption cost Delta an estimated $100 million.
Again last month a less severe outage grounded about 280 domestic flights over a two-hour period.
