Saturday, November 23, 2019

Trump won't have that pesky cybersecurity bunch in the way this election

He won't have to ask Russia if they're listening now. He can just be assured they are.
Jeanette Manfra, a top official within the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) cyber agency, announced Thursday that she will leave her position at the end of the year.

Manfra, who serves as the assistant director for Cybersecurity and Communications within the DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), tweeted that stepping down was “not an easy decision.”

[...]

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and cybersecurity subcommittee Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-La.) praised Manfra in a joint statement on Thursday, specifically highlighting her efforts to improve election security and advance the cybersecurity of federal networks.

  The Hill
What is most alarming is a recent exodus of at least a dozen senior cyber security officials, all of them former members of the Office of the Chief Information Security Officer (OCISO). In July 2019, the White House carried out a reorganization, in which these members of the White House cyber security team were shifted into the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). In the aftermath of this shakeup, former OCISO officials have had their scope of duties removed, and many of their security privileges revoked. All of this is setting up a situation where members of the U.S. Congress are starting to wonder about the long-term security posture of the White House.

[...]

[T]he ongoing exodus of talent – in which the most prominent members of the White House cyber security team are leaving very publicly, in a way that is designed to embarrass the White House – has, of course, produced a leak of its own. The resignation letter of former White House cyber security official Dimitrios Vastakis has been leaked to the media, and it makes for some great political theater. The senior staffer says the current lack of security practices at the White House is “highly concerning.” He suggests that many of the changes in the White House cyber security team were being made in the name of convenience, not security. And he wraps up the memo by making a very grim prognostication: “I foresee the White House is posturing itself to be electronically compromised again.”

[...]

No matter which side of the political aisle you favor, one fact remains unchallenged by either side: the cyber threat landscape is more complex and more dangerous than at any time in history. Within this context, it’s perfectly legitimate to ask what the White House is planning to do about its cyber security team, or to pose questions about the overall state of cyber security preparedness within the White House.

However, as noted above, the politicization of cyber security is now very real.

  CPO Magazine
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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