IDG News Service - Security software industry veteran Amit Yoran is expected to be named the new head of federal cybersecurity by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) tomorrow.
Robert Liscouski, the DHS's assistant secretary of homeland security for infrastructure protection, named Yoran as the agency's new cybersecurity czar in comments today at a forum hosted by the Information Technology Association of America, according to a DHS spokesman.
But DHS declined to comment specifically on the appointment, pending the release of an official statement tomorrow.
Yoran helped to found network scanning company RipTech Inc. in Alexandria, Va., in 1998. After RipTech was acquired by antivirus giant Symantec Corp. for $145 million in August 2002, Yoran stayed on as Symantec vice president of worldwide managed security services operations, according to Symantec spokesman Cris Paden.
Yoran was well regarded there, Paden said. "He definitely knew what he was doing. He was somebody who brought an enormous set of skills with him," he said.
While the DHS refused to comment today because the official announcement won't happen until tomorrow, the software industry raced to embrace one of its own after word of Yoran's impending appointment spread.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA), a leading software industry group, lauded the choice, saying Yoran's experience in the software industry will help build the public-private partnerships that are necessary to prevent attacks on the nation's critical infrastructure. The BSA is pleased about his appointment to "such a vital role," BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman said in a statement.
A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Yoran designed security architecture for the Pentagon and served as director of the Vulnerability Assessment and Assistance Program for the U.S. Department of Defense Computer Emergency Response Team before founding RipTech.
That technical background should serve him well in his new post, said Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute Inc. Having a tech-savvy chief will make it easier for companies with information on vulnerabilities or cyberthreats to approach the DHS. It will also make it easier for the DHS to attract desperately needed technical resources.
"Amit gets it technically, and he's proven he can manage difficult-to-manage technical people and make a pretty good environment for them to work in," Paller said.
Yoran's links to the antivirus community might also make him less hospitable to software makers that produce products with bugs, he said. That might help Yoran in what Paller sees as the cybersecurity chief's biggest challenge: encouraging government regulators to get tough with software companies about security.
Disagreements over that issue and the relatively low position of the cybersecurity chief within the DHS hierarchy are widely reported to have forced Yoran's predecessor, Richard Clarke, from his job in January (see story).
Last month I blogged about the partnerships you should build inside your organization. In keeping with that tone it's time we discussed expanding that partnership mentality to include some of the best technical resources you can ever get hold of, those are the ones that work in your neighboring cities, municipalities, counties, regions, townships etc. Come on folks, these people are already doing exactly the same things as you!
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