Karen Evans steps into a leading federal cyber position: executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA

The experienced cyber and IT government hand takes on a role leading the cybersecurity half of the agency.

Federal IT and cyber government veteran Karen Evans is the new executive assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

It’s one of the most prominent cyber jobs in the federal government, previously held by Jeff Greene and Eric Goldstein. A description of the post on the CISA website says that the position “leads CISA’s mission to protect and strengthen federal civilian agencies and the nation’s critical infrastructure against cyber threats.”

It makes her the leader of the cybersecurity half of the agency’s name.

A CISA spokesperson confirmed the appointment. Evans said on LinkedIn three weeks ago that she had joined CISA in an unspecified capacity.

She most recently had been managing director at the Cyber Readiness Institute but has extensive experience in several federal agencies. 

She has been chief information officer at the Homeland Security Department, assistant secretary for cybersecurity, energy security and emergency response at the Energy Department and the administrator of e-government and information technology at the Office of Management and Budget.

President Donald Trump hasn’t yet selected an overall leader for CISA, although Sean Plankey has reportedly been in line for the Senate-confirmed job. But Evans’ appointment is the latest key position to get a name attached to it among top cyber jobs in the administration.

The administration recently named Sean Cairncross as its pick for the Senate-confirmed position of national cyber director. It also picked Alexei Bulazel as senior director for cyber at the National Security Council.

Government

• FBI officials say AI is bolstering adversaries, emphasizing need to focus on cyber basics, patching

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• The G7 tells industry to hurry up and prep for post-quantum encryption

Technology

• European parliament members call for slowdown of Serbia’s EU entry over spyware use

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

Threats

• Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Russian national extradited to US for alleged involvement in bank-account takeover scheme

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure