Krebs, Luber added to Cyber Safety Review Board

The former CISA director and current head of the NSA Cybersecurity Directorate are among four new members to the DHS board.

The country’s first Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director and the current head of the National Security Agency’s Cybersecurity Directorate are among four new additions to the Cyber Safety Review Board, the Department of Homeland Security announced Monday. 

Chris Krebs, who served as CISA’s director from November 2018 until then-President Donald Trump fired him two years later, and the NSA’s David Luber will be joined by Katie Nickels, senior director of intelligence operations at Red Canary, and Jamil Jaffer, venture partner with the Paladin Capital Group and founder and executive director of the National Security Institute at George Mason University Scalia Law School. 

Luber will take the place of Rob Joyce, his NSA predecessor, as the federal CSRB representative from the spy agency. Joyce has been asked to stay on the board as a private-sector member. Robert Silvers, undersecretary for policy at DHS, and Heather Adkins, vice president for security engineering at Google, will remain as chair and deputy chair, respectively, for a second term on the board.

Exiting the CSRB will be Katie Moussouris, founder and CEO of Luta Security, Chris Novak, co-founder and managing director at Verizon’s Threat Research Advisory Center, Tony Sager, senior vice president and chief evangelist at the Center for Internet Security, and Wendi Whitmore, senior vice president of Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks.

“I can’t thank Katie, Chris, Tony, and Wendi enough for the outstanding contributions they’ve made as CSRB members. I am truly grateful for their service on the Board,” CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a statement.  “I am also very pleased to welcome Jamil, Dave, Katie, and Chris to the Board. I know their cybersecurity expertise and experience will be instrumental in the continuing evolution of the CSRB as a catalyst for positive change in the cybersecurity ecosystem.”

Luber and Krebs, now the chief intelligence and public policy officer at Sentinel One, add federal heft to the occasionally embattled CSRB. Created by President Joe Biden via a 2021 executive order, the CSRB was formed to review major cybersecurity incidents but has faced criticism on Capitol Hill for lacking authorities and independence from the private sector.  

But more recently, the CSRB delivered a withering report that blamed Microsoft’s lax corporate culture for a July 2023 breach by Chinese hackers, writing that “Storm-0558 was able to succeed because of a cascade of security failures” at the tech giant.

Other notable CSRB members include National Cyber Director Harry Coker, Federal CISO Chris DeRusha and CISA Executive Assistant Director Eric Goldstein, among others.

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

• 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

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

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