Chris Inglis confirmed as first US national cyber director after Senate vote

The new role will play a key part in coordinating the government response to major hacks and other cybersecurity threats.

The Senate on Thursday confirmed Chris Inglis as the new White House cyber czar, a role it enacted into law late last year.

The new role will play a key part in coordinating the government response to major hacks and other cybersecurity threats. Inglis takes on the position as the U.S. has dealt with an onslaught of cybersecurity incidents, including ransomware attacks on Colonial Pipeline and meat supplier JBS. The national cyber director will also lead the implementation of cyber policy and strategy, including efforts mandated by the Biden administration to improve federal cybersecurity.

Inglis will be expected to work closely with Anne Neuberger, deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology on the National Security Council, as well as Jen Easterly, Biden’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity agency, should she also be confirmed by Congress.

Inglis will also coordinate cooperation between the government and the private sector on critical cybersecurity issues.

Inglis spent nearly three decades at the NSA. He more recently served on Congress’s Cyberspace Solarium Commission, which recommended the creation of the White House cyber director role.

At a confirmation hearing last week Inglis emphasized the need to address a growing ransomware crisis that has affected a number of critical industries, including healthcare and the fuel sector. He also expressed support for greater regulations of such industries.

“When [private firms are] conducting critical activities upon which the nation’s interests depend, it may well be that we need to step in and we need to regulate or mandate in the same way we’ve done for the aviation industry, for the automobile industry,” he said.

The creation of a national cyber director was vehemently opposed by the Trump administration, which scraped a similar position in 2018.

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Government

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

• 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

• Jail time for Maine child in 764 marks turning point in federal law enforcement

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

• 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

• Election official says Tina Peters would be consultant, won’t have access to election systems