Category Archives: Bryan S. Ware

Lawmakers back CISA chief Krebs after report that he expects to be fired

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Multiple Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Thursday reacted with concern to a media report that a senior Department of Homeland Security cybersecurity official has told associates that he expects to be fired by the White House. Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va, the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, were among those who hailed the work of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Director Chris Krebs, who has been at the forefront of federal agencies’ efforts to protect the 2020 election from hacking and disinformation. “It would not be a surprise [but] would disappoint me profoundly if he were to be fired,” Langevin, who is co-founder of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, said in an interview. “I think Chris Krebs has served in his role as director of CISA with great professionalism, with passion, in a nonpartisan way. He’s someone who is respected on both sides of the aisle.” Krebs, […]

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Senior DHS cybersecurity official Bryan Ware to step down

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Bryan S. Ware, who took the reins as the senior most Department of Homeland Security official focused exclusively on cybersecurity in January, is stepping down from his post and heading to the private sector. A former technology entrepreneur, Ware has helped lead DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency efforts to protect health care and pharmaceutical industry from criminal and state-sponsored hacking. He has also made a point of getting better data, with the help of software tools, into the hands of CISA analysts for tracking hacking campaigns. Ware’s last day on the job will be Friday. He told CyberScoop he is looking to start a new technology company. “I’m very proud of the work that CISA has done this year,” Ware told CyberScoop. “And I think against significant odds, the work we did on [protecting] elections is really a testament to what this agency can do.” Ware declined to comment […]

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CISA orders agencies to set up vulnerability disclosure programs

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Out of scores of federal civilian agencies, only a handful of them have official programs to work with outside security researchers to find and fix software bugs — a process that is commonplace in the private sector. Now, to put an end to the feet-dragging, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is giving agencies six months to set up the programs, known as vulnerability disclosure policies (VDPs). CISA on Wednesday issued a directive requiring agencies to establish VDPs that foreswear legal action against researchers who act in good faith, allow participants to submit vulnerability reports anonymously and cover at least one internet-accessible system or service. It’s the latest sign that federal officials are warming to white-hat hackers from various walks of life. “We believe that better security of government computer systems can only be realized when the people are given the opportunity to help,” CISA Assistant Director […]

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DHS’s cyber division has stepped up protections for coronavirus research, official says

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The Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity wing says it has put heightened defense measures for health-care-focused organizations and research facilities in place as foreign government-backed hackers continue to try to steal U.S. coronavirus research. “I just want you to know that we have stepped up our protections of [the Department of Health and Human Services] and [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] — our federally-funded research organizations,” Bryan Ware, assistant director of DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told industry executives Friday. “[We’ve] significantly accelerated that work.” CISA is regularly scanning the internet-connected devices of top pharmaceutical companies and research institutions for vulnerabilities and trying to get them fixed quickly “because we are seeing adversaries that are targeting them right now,” Ware said on a webinar focused on CISA contracting opportunities. Ware cited efforts by China and other unnamed governments to target vaccine research, echoing recent warnings from CISA and […]

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New senior DHS cyber official aims to deliver better data to threat analysts

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The Department of Homeland Security’s new senior cybersecurity official has his marching orders: Streamline the reams of data collected by analysts at DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency so it’s all more useful for tracking hackers. “One of my top three priorities” will be “modernizing all of our data systems, tools, AI, and analytics,” Bryan Ware, CISA’s assistant director for cybersecurity said Tuesday in some of his first public remarks since being tapped for the role. CISA needs to move away from “legacy programs’ and toward “multi-cloud environments” to support its threat analysts, he said. DHS officials are banking on Ware’s background as an artificial intelligence entrepreneur, and the data-crunching skills that come with it, to make the 1s and 0s that CISA receives from the private sector and intelligence community more intelligible to network defenders. This week, he succeeded Jeanette Manfra as DHS’s senior official focused exclusively on cybersecurity after Manfra left […]

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DHS chooses Bryan Ware, former AI entrepreneur, as assistant director for cybersecurity

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Department of Homeland Security officials have selected Bryan S. Ware, a tech-savvy entrepreneur and holder of multiple patents, to be the department’s most senior official focused exclusively on cybersecurity, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. For the last 10 months, Ware has been a DHS assistant secretary working on policies to make critical infrastructure more resilient to hacking threats. Now, pending White House approval, Ware is set to have an even more pronounced impact on DHS’s cybersecurity work. Ware would replace Jeanette Manfra, who is leaving for the private sector at the end of the year, as assistant director for cybersecurity at DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). It is a crucial job as CISA continues to mature as a federal agency charged with combatting cyberthreats to election systems and other critical infrastructure. Sources familiar with Ware’s selection said the White House’s approval process is underway and that nothing is final. […]

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