Category Archives: cybersecurity workforce

Veteran Justice official who oversaw cybercrime cases to step down

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The Justice Department official who leads the division that prosecutes state-linked and criminal hackers is resigning by the end of June, a department spokesman said Monday. John Demers will step down after more than three years as assistant attorney general for national security, during which time the department brought multiple charges against alleged Russian and Chinese spies for hacking. Mark Lesko, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, will likely serve as Demers’ temporary replacement, department spokesman Marc Raimondi said. Demers’ departure, which the Associated Press first reported on, has been expected for months. The White House said last month it would nominate Matt Olsen, a security executive at Uber, to replace Demers. The assistant attorney general for national security is one of the most important cybersecurity-related perches in the U.S. government as the incumbent can wield the full force of the Justice Department to pursue […]

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Biden budget seeks $750 million to respond to SolarWinds compromises, plus billions more for cyber

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President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2022 budget blueprint released Friday proposes $750 million for the federal government to respond to “lessons learned” from the SolarWinds supply chain hack that compromised nine agencies. In all, the budget proposes $9.8 billion in federal civilian cybersecurity funding, a 14% increase from the spending levels allocated for the current fiscal year, according to a summary. That number doesn’t take into account Defense Department funding requests, which would represent another large chunk of money, though that amount isn’t precisely spelled out in four documents shared Friday with reporters in advance of public release. “Cybersecurity is a top priority for this Administration, and recent events, such as the SolarWinds cyber incident, have shown that adversaries continue to target Federal systems,” one budget document reads. The blueprint also requests $15 million for the recently-created national cyber director office in the White House, and $20 million for a new […]

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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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DHS cyber official Rick Driggers heads to the private sector

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Rick Driggers, a longtime cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security, is leaving government for the private sector in May, CyberScoop has learned. Since September, Driggers has led CISA’s Integrated Operations Division, which houses the agency’s center for sharing cyberthreat information with American companies and oversees the agency’s field offices across the country. His work has included co-chairing a working group with critical infrastructure firms on the security of industrial control systems  — a field that the agency has pledged to invest greater resources in. An Air Force veteran turned civil servant, Driggers has been at DHS for most of the last 17 years, rising in the ranks to serve as key official in the department’s two-year-old Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Driggers is one of many career civil servants who stuck with the agency through the turmoil of the Trump years, and after the White House purged CISA’s […]

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Chris DeRusha, who protected Biden campaign from hackers, says he is the Federal CISO

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The former top cybersecurity official on Joe Biden’s presidential campaign said late Monday that he is now in charge of helping protect the federal government’s sprawling bureaucracy from hackers. Chris DeRusha, also a former White House cybersecurity official in the Obama administration, announced his appointment as the federal government’s new chief information security officer on LinkedIn. Maria Roat, the acting Federal CIO, confirmed DeRusha’s appointment early Tuesday. As Federal CISO, DeRusha will be responsible for coordinating cybersecurity policy across the federal bureaucracy and prodding agencies to fortify their networks in the wake of a suspected Russian hacking campaign that has infiltrated the departments of Justice, Energy and others. DeRusha is returning to familiar territory, having served as a White House cybersecurity adviser when Biden was vice president. DeRusha is also well-versed in election security issues, having worked as Michigan’s chief security officer before the Biden campaign hired him to prevent a repeat […]

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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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FBI aims for stronger cyber strategy as US grapples with SolarWinds fallout

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While dealing with a massive cyber-espionage campaign against the U.S. government, the FBI is trying to quietly implement a new strategy aimed at better tracking foreign hackers. FBI officials last spring gave the head of the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF) — a group of intelligence, law enforcement and defense officials who track hacking threats — a more senior role within the bureau, according to Tonya Ugoretz, deputy assistant director in the FBI’s cyber division. The result is that a senior FBI official now leads an interagency group whose work could lead to offensive cyber-operations, sanctions or State Department démarches — or all three. Herb Stapleton, the former head of the FBI’s the head of FBI’s Cyber Crime Operations, is filling that role. The goal of the strategy, which the FBI unveiled in September, is to disrupt foreign cyber operations against U.S. assets by “changing the risk calculus” of adversaries, as […]

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Energy official eyed for senior CISA position after White House throws agency into turmoil

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Following President Trump’s removal of the director of the Department of Homeland Security’s cyber division, the man whom the White House tapped for a senior position there in October is preparing to join the agency amid questions about his security clearance. Sean Plankey, currently a senior official at the Department of Energy, has in recent days contacted current and former officials at DHS to discuss working at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Plankey indicated in one conversation that his move to CISA was “imminent,” one source said. The Trump administration in October announced its intention to appoint Plankey as CISA’s assistant director for infrastructure security. The apparent momentum behind Plankey comes days after the president announced via Twitter that he had fired Chris Krebs, CISA’s director, for declaring the Nov. 3 election “the most secure in American history.” The status of Plankey’s security clearance, however, hangs […]

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DHS’s cyber agency is led by career official Brandon Wales. For now.

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Less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump fired Chris Krebs, the dust is still settling at the Department of Homeland Security cybersecurity agency that Krebs led. Officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) who have spent months refuting conspiracy theories and battling disinformation surrounding the election say they will continue to do so, despite a White House purge of the agency’s leadership. CISA is now led on an acting basis by Brandon Wales, a 15-year veteran of DHS who is deeply familiar with CISA’s operations after serving as the agency’s top career civil servant. A former senior cybersecurity adviser to then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Wales is well-liked at CISA and known for his technical acumen. How long Wales will lead the agency, though, remains unclear. The dismantling of CISA’s leadership has employees on edge. And CISA’s continued work to debunk fraud claims could draw additional White House scrutiny. After Trump fired Krebs via tweet on […]

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Trump fires CISA chief Chris Krebs, who guarded the 2020 election from interference and domestic misinformation

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President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he has fired Chris Krebs, a widely respected Department of Homeland Security official who helped protect the 2020 election from hacking and disinformation, the latest in a series of purges of officials deemed insufficiently loyal to the president. As head of DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Krebs has repeatedly debunked baseless claims from Trump and his allies of widespread electoral fraud while generally avoiding mentioning the president by name. CISA’s “rumor control” public website, which refuted conspiracy theories about stolen votes or dead people voting, reportedly angered the White House. Trump tweeted Tuesday evening that he fired Krebs because his agency issued a “highly inaccurate” statement that the 2020 election was secure. That statement, which was signed by numerous election officials across the country, and backed up by independent security experts, said the election was the most secure in U.S. history. A former Microsoft executive whom […]

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