The FBI's cyber division has a new assistant director, Joseph Demarest, who formerly served as assistant director for international operations.
May 18, 2012
Howard Schmidt, who began as White House cyber security coordinator in January 2010, announced Thursday that he is retiring and returning to private life. He will be replaced by a White House intelligence chief.
President Obama named Todd Park as the federal government's new chief technology officer, replacing Aneesh Chopra, who resigned last month.
October 20, 2011
Mark Weatherford, former CSO of the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC), has been appointed to a newly created position at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Serving as deputy under secretary for cybersecurity within the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), the DHS component charged with reducing risk, Weatherford will focus on ensuring strong cybersecurity operations and communications for the department. He is expected to start in mid-November. Prior to his role at NERC, Weatherford was CISO of the state of California. A former naval cryptologic officer, Weatherford also previously led the Navy's computer network defense operations.
Much-maligned Sony announced Tuesday that it has hired a former U.S. cybersecurity official to serve as its first-ever chief information security officer. Philip Reitinger, 49, the former director of the National Cybersecurity Center at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security since June 2009, who tendered his resignation in May, will be tasked with assuring the protection of the multibillion dollar company's assets and services. It's been a tough year for Sony, which has experienced multiple breaches, most notably the compromise of its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, which resulted in the exposure of the personal details of tens of millions of users. Reitinger has been in the private sector before, where he held the role of security strategist at Microsoft.
Dave DeWalt has resigned from his most as president of McAfee after four years, the Intel subsidiary announced Tuesday. DeWalt, who oversaw the security software firm through its $7.7 billion acquisition by Intel last year, will serve as a non-employee member of McAfee's board. He will be replaced by two new co-presidents: Michael DeCesare, currently McAfee's executive vice president for global operations, and Todd Gebhart, executive vice president and general manager of McAfee's consumer, mobile and small business division. DeCesare and Gebhart will assume their new roles by the third quarter of this year and report to Renee James, Intel's senior vice president and chairman of McAfee.
Vivek Kundra, the nation's first chief information officer, announced that he plans to step down later this summer to take a position at Harvard University.
Philip Reitinger, director of the National Cybersecurity Center at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security since June 2009, plans to resign next month, according to a report in the National Journal. Reitinger held the top cybersecurity role at DHS and was charged with working with interagency partners and coordinating situational awareness and reporting for federal cybersecurity organizations and personnel. According to an email he wrote employees on Wednesday, Reitinger believes now is a "logical point" for him to leave and allow his team to further its initiatives. Among those may soon be President Obama's cybersecurity legislative proposals, released last week, which clarify how DHS will work with the private sector on security matters.
Investigation into the breach of the Sony's PlayStation Network and Qriocity services has turned up further compromise, the company announced Monday.
April 29, 2011
Jeff Moss, a hacker and the founder of the Black Hat and DEFCON conferences, on Thursday was named chief security officer of the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), an internet governance organization that oversees the domain name system and ensure domain names map to the correct IP addresses. Known in hacker circles as "Dark Tangent," Moss was hired for his "insider's knowledge that can only come from fighting in the trenches in the ongoing war against cyberthreats," said Rod Beckstrom, ICANN's president and CEO. Moss will continue his involvement with Black Hat in the new role of conference chairman.
The FBI has promoted Gordon Snow to assistant director of the Cyber Division. Snow, an 18-year FBI veteran who most recently served as the division's deputy assistant director, will be responsible for leading the agency's efforts to combat cyberattacks. FBI Director Robert Mueller said in a statement announcing the appointment that the agency considers cybercrime enforcement its highest priority. Snow replaces Shawn Henry, who was appointed in January to assistant director-in-charge of the Washington, D.C. Field Office. — AM
March 11, 2010
Bob Maley, the former CISO of Pennsylvania, may have been fired because of remarks he made about a recent breach affecting the state.
Salaries rose in 2009 for more than half of some 3,000 security professionals polled by nonprofit certification provider (ISC)2, the organization announced Thursday. The "2010 Career Impact Survey" found that 52.8 percent of respondents received raises last year, while 11 percent saw their paychecks and/or benefits slashed. Just under 5 percent of respondents were laid off. (ISC)2 attributed the results to increasing corporate and government dependence on information security. — DK
Blue Coat Systems, provider of secure web gateway solutions, has announced it will slash its workforce by 10 percent as part of a drive to increase revenue and profitability. The announcement last week also included news that Blue Coat would buy S7 Software Solutions, an India-based IT research-and-development firm, for $5.25 million. Blue Coat has approximately 1,500 employees. As part of the restructuring, a number of engineering positions will move from its headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif. to other locations, including the newly acquired site in Bangalore, India. In addition, the company will close three satellite offices, including one in New Jersey. -- DK
The DHS has green-lighted the hiring of up to 1,000 cybersecurity workers as a means of protecting the nation's federally owned systems.
Another top cybersecurity leader has stepped down - news that comes in the wake of similar high-profile government resignations and a still-vacant federal cybersecurity coordinator post.
Melissa Hathaway, acting senior director for cyberspace for the National Security and Homeland Security council, announced Monday that she is stepping down, citing personal reasons, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Hathaway was tasked with leading a 60-day cyberspace policy review, the results of which were presented by President Obama in May. He announced that he would soon appoint a permanent cybersecurity coordinator. Hathaway said she took her name out of the running for the permanent post two weeks ago and would resign effective Aug. 24. — DK
June 08, 2009
Jeff Moss, a former hacker who founded the Black Hat and DEFCON conferences, was one of 16 people appointed to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council.
President Obama appointed the first-ever federal chief technology officer during the weekend.
Web and email security vendor Marshal8e6 announced on Tuesday its acquisition of behavioral malware detection vendor Avinti for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will better equip Marshal8e6 to stop blended email threats -- email that contains active malware content or links to websites where malware is downloaded, according to a statement from Marshal8e6. The acquisition follows the merger of Marshal and 8e6 Technologies last November. — AM
Philip Reitinger was appointed on Monday as deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's National Protection and Programs Directorate, tasked with safeguarding the government's computer systems. Reitinger currently serves as chief trustworthy infrastructure strategist at Microsoft, where he collaborates with government to build systems aimed at protecting the nation's critical infrastructure. He previously held executive roles in the computer crime divisions at the Defense and Justice departments. — DK
Rod Beckstrom, director of the National Cybersecurity Center, an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has resigned.
President Obama has appointed the first-ever federal chief information officer.
A lawyer specializing in data security has been appointed chief privacy officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The White House is expected to name Melissa Hathaway to head its newly created national cybersecurity office, perhaps as soon as Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Hathaway, who was a cybersecurity adviser to the Director of National Intelligence under President Bush, will first conduct a 60-day review of major federal cybersecurity efforts. Then she likely will be offered the cyberczar position. -- CAM
January 16, 2009
John Thompson, who is set to retire in April as Symantec's CEO, is one of the favorites to be named the next commerce secretary.
November 18, 2008
After ten years as CEO of Symantec, John Thompson is set to pass the torch to Enrique Salem.
July 01, 2008
Integrating the networking and IT security staffs delivers operational benefits, but comes with challenges, reports Jim Carr.
The Department of Homeland Security has named Mischel Kwon, the chief IT security technologist for the U.S. Department of Justice, as the new head of its U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team.
A Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author has been selected to run a new government organization whose mission is to protect the computer networks of federal agencies from attack, his former company announced on Thursday.
