Category Archives: Alejandro Mayorkas

TSA pushes more cybersecurity mandates on critical pipeline owners, emphasizing ransomware

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The Transportation Security Administration on Tuesday handed down additional cybersecurity requirements for owners of major pipelines, this time focused on ransomware. It’s the second time the Department of Homeland Security’s TSA has issued a security directive to critical pipeline owners since ransomware attackers struck Colonial Pipeline in May, an incident that spurred panic-buying amid fears of a gas shortage. The specific requirements of the directive were not immediately clear. “This Security Directive requires owners and operators of TSA-designated critical pipelines to implement specific mitigation measures to protect against ransomware attacks and other known threats to information technology and operational technology systems, develop and implement a cybersecurity contingency and recovery plan, and conduct a cybersecurity architecture design review,” a DHS statement reads. The same month of the Colonial Pipeline attack, TSA threatened to fine certain pipeline owners — an estimated 100 companies — if they failed to meet cybersecurity guidelines. TSA […]

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DHS hails cybersecurity hiring blitz that puts dent in thousands of vacancies

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The Department of Homeland Security is touting its “most successful cybersecurity hiring initiative” ever after bringing on nearly 300 pros, with job offers extended to 500 more. It’s a figure significantly higher than the goal of 200 hires established under a two-month “Cybersecurity Workforce Sprint.” But it’s also still just a dent, going 12% of the way toward filling the more than 2,000 vacancies, by DHS’s own accounting. “DHS is dedicating significant energy toward exceeding our cybersecurity hiring goal by recruiting talented experts, investing in diverse talent pipelines, and ensuring equitable access to professional development opportunities at every level,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a news release late Thursday. “While I am proud of the progress we have made to date, we still have more work to do.” It’s been a long, slow climb for DHS to bring on cyber personnel, but the “sprint” is the latest sign of […]

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DHS to hire 200 more cyber pros as Biden administration grapples with hacking threats

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The Department of Homeland Security announced on Wednesday that it intends to hire 200 new cybersecurity professionals by July as the Biden administration aims to curb ransomware attacks affecting U.S. corporations, as well as foreign espionage operations. In a speech Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the cyber recruiting was part of “the most significant hiring initiative” that DHS has undertaken in its 18-year history. “We are going to be recruiting talent that is already developed, we’re going to be helping develop the talent that is just about to bloom and we’re going to be investing in the seeds to grow the talent of the future,” Mayorkas said at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event. Half of the new jobs will be with DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the other half will be with other DHS agencies that work on cybersecurity, the department said in a press […]

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Mayorkas pledges to modernize US cyber-defenses after their failure to detect alleged Russian spies

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A suspected Russian hacking campaign exposed glaring shortcomings in the U.S. government’s approach to cybersecurity, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday while promising to harness federal resources to improve public and private-sector defenses. Mayorkas pledged to improve nearly every major facet of DHS’s cybersecurity work, from helping federal agencies recover from hacks to thwarting them in the first place. Part of that will come through an executive order President Joe Biden is expected to release soon to tighten security requirements for federal agencies and the software vendors that supply them. “Our government got hacked last year and we didn’t know about it for months,” Mayorkas said at an event hosted by security firm RSA. “This incident is one of many that underscores the need for the federal government to modernize cybersecurity defenses and deepen our partnerships,” Mayorkas said, referring to the alleged Russian spying operation exploiting contractor SolarWinds and […]

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Tim Maurer takes front office DHS cybersecurity job advising Mayorkas

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Tim Maurer, director of the Cyber Policy Initiative at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, is joining the Department of Homeland Security as a senior political appointee in the role of senior counselor for cybersecurity to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, two sources familiar with the move told CyberScoop. It’s a job title that a number of cybersecurity luminaries to pass through the department have held over the years, including the current acting director of DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, Brandon Wales, former CISA Director Chris Krebs and CISA’s former assistant secretary for cybersecurity, Jeanette Manfra. According to his Carnegie bio, Maurer “works on the geopolitical implications of the Internet and cybersecurity, with a focus on the global financial system, influence operations, and other areas of importance as actors exploit the gray space between war and peace.” He also was a senior fellow at Carnegie’s Technology and International Affairs program. He recently […]

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Senate confirms cybersecurity-focused Alejandro Mayorkas as DHS secretary

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The Senate on Tuesday voted to confirm Alejandro Mayorkas as Homeland Security secretary, a post crucial to the U.S. response to a suspected Russian hacking campaign that has roiled Washington. A former No. 2 Department of Homeland Security official in the Obama administration, Mayorkas flatly told lawmakers last month that U.S. government defenses against hacking were out of step with the urgency of the threats. “The cybersecurity of our nation [will be] one of my highest priorities,” he said during a Senate confirmation hearing. Mayorkas has pledged to strengthen DHS’s cybersecurity work, including by reviewing two big-budget department programs that did not thwart the alleged Russian hack. The spying campaign has exploited software made by SolarWinds and other IT providers, and infiltrated multiple U.S. agencies. Mayorkas, who fled Cuba’s Castro regime as a child, now leads a vast DHS bureaucracy whose charges include defending civilian federal agencies from state-backed hackers and […]

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White House plans to select Rob Silvers, a Mayorkas ally, to lead DHS’s cyber outfit

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The Biden administration plans to select Rob Silvers, a lawyer and former Department of Homeland Security official, to run the federal agency in charge of election security and stopping hacking threats to government networks, according to two people familiar with the matter. The choice of Silvers, who is close with Homeland Security secretary nominee Alejandro Mayorkas, to lead DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency signals the new administration’s intent to strengthen CISA’s role in cyber-defense. Biden advisers have proposed hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding for the two-year-old agency, and providing more security tools to defend civilian-government networks. Silvers’ selection won’t be official until all of the requisite paperwork is complete, people familiar with the process said. If confirmed by the Senate, Silvers would assume the position previously held by Christopher Krebs, who former President Donald Trump fired via Twitter for declaring the 2020 election was secure. CISA […]

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Biden’s Cabinet picks face cyber questions from Congress as SolarWinds looms large

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President-elect Joe Biden’s choices to take on key cabinet roles outlined their approaches to pressing cybersecurity issues facing the new administration during Senate confirmation hearings on Tuesday. A suspected Russian hacking operation that has exposed frailties in federal defenses, as well as conspiracy theories that inspired the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol, loomed large at the hearings, which came a day before Biden’s inauguration. Of note: Biden’s picks for Homeland Security chief and Director of National Intelligence said they will get a clearer picture of the SolarWinds hacking campaign after getting classified briefings on the matter. Here are the highlights from Tuesday’s confirmation hearings. Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security nominee Immigration issues dominated the discussion between Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden’s nominee for DHS chief, and Senate lawmakers. The inability of DHS and other federal departments to stop alleged Russian hacker from exploiting software built by the federal contractor SolarWinds, […]

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Biden’s DHS pick was a ‘quick study’ of cybersecurity issues as the department’s deputy

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Alejandro Mayorkas, President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to run the Department of Homeland Security, gained an appreciation for how cyberthreats factor into national security challenges when he was deputy of the department from 2013 to 2016, former U.S. officials who know Mayorkas told CyberScoop. As DHS’s No. 2, the Cuban-American lawyer took a close interest in the department’s work on cyberthreat-sharing with the private sector, and was involved in negotiations with China over a 2015 agreement forbidding intellectual property theft. Mayorkas also witnessed the U.S. response to major state-sponsored hacking operations, from China’s alleged breach of the Office of Personnel Management to Russia’s probing of election infrastructure in 2016. Mayorkas is now poised to be a central figure in how the incoming Biden administration responds to such threats. “He clearly understood [cybersecurity] issues and why they were important and was a good advocate for DHS’s part in that,” said Christopher Painter, […]

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