The Cybersecurity 202: Biden denounces Russian hackers in call with Putin Tonya Riley
with Aaron Schaffer
President Biden s has taken a strong stand against Russian hackers during his first days in office. Biden spoke on the phone with Russian leader Vladimir Putin yesterday afternoon in a call during which he raised concerns about ongoing aggressions, including a massive hacking campaign that breached at least eight federal agencies including the Defense, Commerce and State Departments. “His intention was also to make clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of our national interests in response to malign actions by Russia,” Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, said in a briefing.
Biden s new federal CISO also has previous experience in government cyber security. He worked at the Department of Homeland Security from 2009 until 2015 as a cyber security strategist and then as advisor to the Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity before spending two years at the White House as the president’s senior cyber security advisor.
He left that role a few months after former President Trump took office, moving to a position at Ford Motor Company to look after enterprise vulnerability management and application security. After a year at Ford, he went to work for the state of Michigan, where he started as deputy chief security officer before taking the top role.
Veteran of White House, DHS steps into federal CISO role
News Highlights: Veteran of White House, DHS steps into federal CISO role.
Biden’s administration has wasted no time appointing the new federal chief information security officer. They just didn’t tell anyone that Chris DeRusha started on January 25th.
Former Office of Management and Budget officials “made the news” of DeRusha’s appointment, and DeRusha confirmed it by changing his LinkedIn page.
Federal News Network further confirmed DeRusha’s new role with government sources. He replaces Camilo Sandoval, who was federal CISO of the Trump administration for the past month.
By Justin Katz
NOTE: This story first appeared on FCW.com.
President Joe Biden has tapped Chris DeRusha to be the federal government s chief information security officer.
DeRusha s appointment was not announced by the White House, but his LinkedIn profile indicated he had begun working as the government s CISO. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DeRusha has a long history with both Biden and the Obama administration. Last summer, Biden tapped him to be the campaign s CISO and he has continued to work for the transition team since December. Smart move of Biden to hire Chris DeRusha to secure his campaign. Did great work for me at DHS! Suzanne Spaulding, a former Department of Homeland Security official who led the predecessor to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said of the hire at the time.