Joe Biden has tapped Anne Neuberger for the cybersecurity slot on the National Security Council. Neuberger, who joined the NSA more than a decade ago and has been serving as the agency’s director of cybersecurity since 2019, will be named deputy national security adviser for cybersecurity in the incoming NSC, according to two people familiar with the plans.
Cybersecurity experts weighed-in on the announcement.
Yaniv Bar-Dayan, CEO and co-founder at Vulcan Cyber, a remediation intelligence provider:
“Federal cybersecurity leadership has never been more critical to the defense of the United States as traditional warfare continues to shift to a digital theater. Since the discovery of the SolarWinds hack, the spotlight has never been more focused on our shortcomings as an industry. We need to do more and we need to do better. We are pleased to see a candidate with a background in both traditional military operations and IT, both of which are essential to implementing effective cybersecurity and defense. But the United States government, and the cybersecurity industry as a whole, need to change the status quo to effectively protect our government data and digital infrastructure. The appointment of Anne Neuberger to the National Security Council is an excellent choice, but it is just the start.”
Timur Kovalev, chief technology officer at Untangle, a provider of comprehensive network security for SMBs:
“The impact of the Sunburst attack, which was brought to light in December 2020, is still unraveling. The recent media coverage of this attack has raised awareness of what can be at stake as victims were found to be US federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, parts of the Pentagon and five branches of the US military. While the Sunburst attack has been stopped at the source, we still don’t know where the attack is still causing harm due to its spread before it was blocked.
This move signals that our government is making cybersecurity an important focal point, which it needs to be now that we’re finding out what’s possible. We had multiple high impact attacks in 2020, including an attack on the US Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency and on prominent Twitter accounts such as Barack Obama, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
Cybersecurity has become a mainstream issue that needs to be addressed at the highest levels in order to make sure the US is protected. The attacks will keep coming through 2021 and beyond. It is paramount that our elected officials take these attacks seriously, bringing in the right people for the job, and putting in place measures to block them.”
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