Facebook hires first ever head of cybersecurity policy

The social media titan hired Nathaniel Gleicher, a former cybersecurity director in the White House during the Obama administration, to the position last month.

Facebook has hired its first ever director of cybersecurity policy, CyberScoop has learned.

The social media titan hired Nathaniel Gleicher, a former cybersecurity policy director in the White House during the Obama administration, to the position earlier this month.

In the new position, Gleicher will be part of the broader product policy team that helps Facebook craft rules for how they keep the platform secure for users.

Although the director role is new, Facebook has in the past employed various other policy experts focused on cybersecurity. Gleicher will be leading a team that will help guide Facebook internal strategy as well as adapt to external policy decisions that come from Washington, D.C.

“We’re pleased that Nathaniel joined us recently to help support our security efforts,” a Facebook spokesperson said.

Gleicher will work closely with Facebook’s existing cybersecurity teams and others from outside the company. The move comes several months after Facebook announced plans to make new hires and invest in tools to combat disinformation campaigns and cyberattacks aimed at their network.

During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, groups linked to Russian intelligence agencies were able to successfully manipulate several different social media channels, including Facebook and Twitter, to sow discord in the American public.

Gleicher previously served as the head of cybersecurity strategy for Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Illumio.

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