No. of Recommendations: 13
US officials are telling personnel at multiple agencies, including the FBI and the White House Office of the National Cyber Director, not to attend one of the world’s most popular cybersecurity conferences after the event’s parent firm appointed a former Biden administration official as its chief executive, multiple sources told CNN.
Cyber experts from the FBI and other federal agencies have long attended the RSA Conference (RSAC) in San Francisco, including last year in the early months of Donald Trump’s second term. With tens of thousands of attendees, federal employees see it as an important networking and career development event — and a chance to promote federal cyber policy to the private sector. The FBI’s top cyber official as of Thursday was still listed as a speaker for the March conference on the RSAC website.
But after RSAC announced on Thursday that Jen Easterly, the head of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) under former President Joe Biden, would be chief executive of the company that hosts the conference, the reaction from the Trump administration was swift. By Thursday evening, officials were being told not to attend the conference, sources said.
Easterly was a career US intelligence official who rose in the ranks in the Army and the National Security Agency before being a senior cyber executive at Morgan Stanley. She served as head of CISA, a part of the Department of Homeland Security that protects other agencies from hacks, during the Biden administration. During her tenure, Easterly was generally well-liked by cybersecurity-focused Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill. Some Republicans accused CISA of “censoring” conservative voices online, an accusation not supported by evidence and which the agency denied.
It’s not the first time the Trump administration, in its second term, has responded negatively to Easterly. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll in July ordered the US Military Academy at West Point to rescind an offer of employment to Easterly amid pressure from far-right activist Laura Loomer.
The FBI declined to comment. The White House Office of the National Cyber Director did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did RSAC.
Jeff
No. of Recommendations: 0
Easy to fix. Private sector stops updating security fixes to the govt computers. Watch what happens when they crash and/or get hijacked. Spankee's problem.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Just because the cybersecurity professionals have been told not to go to the conference, doesn't mean they won't stay current on new industry developments. Our son is a (non-gov't) cybersecurity professional. It's impressive what he can do from his own home, to the point where the company he is employed by sold their office building. Will it make it more difficult to be poached away from their gov't job? Possibly, but based on the number of headhunter pursuing Eldest, I doubt it.
There's a lot to get worried and incensed about these days, and using one' elected power to try to hurt your political "enemies" IS one of them. Concern that our gov't cybersecurity professionals will fall behind for not being allowed to go to a conference is not.
IP
