Category Archives: White House Cyber Coordinator

Senators urge John Bolton to reinstate NSC cyber position

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Nineteen Democratic senators called on the Trump administration to reinstate the White House’s top cybersecurity post, which it removed earlier this month. The group, led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., wrote a letter urging National Security Adviser John Bolton to reconsider his decision to eliminate the cybersecurity coordinator position, which was housed in the National Security Council (NSC). The senators expressed concern that eliminating the role “will lead to a lack of unified focus against cyber threats.” “Our country’s cybersecurity should be a top priority,” the senators wrote. “Therefore, it is critically important that the U.S. government present a unified front in defending against cyberattacks.” The senators highlighted Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election and cited Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, who testified earlier this year that “Russia will conduct bolder and more disruptive cyber operations during the next year.” “Eliminating the Cybersecurity Coordinator role keeps us from presenting that unified front and […]

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With White House coordinator gone, DHS official calls for U.S. leadership on cybersecurity

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In the wake of the White House’s decision to eliminate its top cybersecurity position, a Department of Homeland Security official has called on the U.S. government to robustly engage on cyber policy issues on the world stage. The Trump administration should have a “strong voice” at internet standards bodies and other global forums, working with allies and non-allies alike, said Jeanette Manfra, assistant secretary for DHS’s Office of Cybersecurity and Communications. “We have to figure out a way to continue to work together to ensure that the stability of the global system is maintained,” Manfra said Tuesday at the Security Through Innovation Summit, presented by McAfee and produced by CyberScoop. Manfra did not mention the recently-nixed White House cybersecurity coordinator in her remarks, but that position has traditionally been key to the United States’ international cybersecurity work. At a February conference in Germany, for example, then-White House cybersecurity coordinator Rob […]

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Experts ask: Why does the VEP cut out health care agencies?

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The U.S. government’s policy for disclosing freshly discovered software vulnerabilities effectively sidelines a small but vital slice of the global IT ecosystem, critics charge — flaws in the computer programs that run medical devices, hospital equipment and digital health records systems. The Vulnerabilities Equities Process (VEP) sets out how the government decides whether to secretly retain a new vulnerability — called a zero day — for use in spying operations, or disclose it to the manufacturer so the software can be fixed or patched. The process’s details were released Wednesday by the White House. The Equities Review Board, the body which discusses vulnerabilities and makes decisions under the VEP, is made up of representatives from 10 federal agencies and departments, including the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. But there’s no representative from the Department of Health and Human Services. When asked […]

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Trump administration will shine light on VEP with public charter

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The Trump administration plans to launch a “public charter” to add transparency and clarity to the Vulnerabilities Equities Process (VEP), a policy that guides when and if the U.S. government will tell a software vendor about digital flaws they’ve discovered in their products that could be otherwise used for espionage or intelligence operations. “We are in the process of a policy decision-making group that’s reviewing it, endorsing it, and then we will be able to push it out,” Joyce said Wednesday at the Cambridge Cyber Summit about the charter. “What we’re trying to carefully weigh is having those capabilities, to be able to use them for national security, while at the same time making sure that it’s not a major liability for our economy, for the international community, for our national security.” In an interview with CyberScoop, Joyce said the public charter would provide some new information concerning the number […]

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