Backlash Over Potential Firing of U.S. Election Cybersecurity’s Top Official

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Backlash Over Potential Firing of U.S. Election Cybersecurity’s Top Official

By CircleID Reporter
November 17, 2020, 8:15 pm PST Views: 13,184 Add Comment

CISA Director Chris Krebs on the ongoing effort to secure the 2020 election and rumor control.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), along with over forty other cybersecurity experts and organizations, are urging the White House to keep politics out of securing this month’s election in the U.S. The concern arose following a Reuter’s report that the top U.S. cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs, Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) responsible for protecting the election from hackers, drew the ire of the Trump White House over efforts to debunk disinformation. Krebs is reported to have told associates he expects to be fired.

From the open letter issued on Monday: “We are profoundly disturbed by reports that the White House is pressuring Chris Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), to change CISA’s reports on election security. This comes just after Bryan Ware, assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, resigned at the White House’s request. Director Krebs has said he expects to be fired but has refused to join the effort to cast doubt on the systems in place to support election technology and the election officials who run it.”

CISA published a joint statement last week after pushing back against numerous false claims: “While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too.”

Update: President Trump announced on Twitter Tuesday night that Chris Krebs has been fired effective immediately.

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By CircleID Reporter — CircleID’s internal staff reporting on news tips and developing stories. Do you have information the professional Internet community should be aware of? Contact us.
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