Skip the navigation
News Analysis

The cybersecurity job no one really wants

Perceived lack of clout robs White House cybersecurity post of luster, some say

By Jaikumar Vijayan
August 5, 2009 06:53 PM ET

Computerworld - When President Obama announced in May that he was establishing a White House office for cybersecurity, the news was widely welcomed as a sign of the administration's willingness to recognize cyberthreats as a national security issue.

The need for such a role had been espoused by many in the security industry, including Obama's acting cybersecurity chief, Melissa Hathaway, who announced her resignation this week, and a 40-member commission that had developed cybersecurity recommendations for the Obama administration.

The idea was to create a central role that would be responsible for developing and enforcing a national strategy for defending the country's government and commercial interests in cyberspace.

But eight weeks after the president's announcement, and with no one named to the post yet, some have begun wondering if the delay is because there are few takers for the job. Far from being the game-changing role that some had hoped it would be, the new position is increasingly being seen as one that has been watered down to the point of inconsequence.

Hathaway, who was considered a contender for the role given her past experience as a cybersecurity executive for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, alluded to such issues in an interview with the Washington Post this week. She suggested to the Post the reason she had quit was because she "wasn't willing to continue to wait any longer because I'm not empowered right now to continue to drive the change." About 30 people have been interviewed for the job so far, the report said.

Among those who turned down the position were former Virginia Sen. Tom Davis, Microsoft's Scott Charney, and Good Harbor Consulting executive Paul Kurtz, who is a former senior director for critical infrastructure protection on the White House's Homeland Security team, Forbes reported last month.

In announcing her resignation, Hathaway told the White House that she did not want to be considered for the cybersecurity role, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Tom Kellerman, vice president of security awareness at Core Security Technologies, said Hathaway's decision leaves a dangerous leadership void on the cybersecurity front and highlights the challenges the White House is facing in attracting the right talent to the job. Kellerman was part of a 40-person team led by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) that delivered a set of cybersecurity recommendations to the president in January.

"The position just isn't high enough in the White House food chain to attract the most qualified people," Kellerman said. It is only by elevating the position to the rank of a special adviser that it will have the clout and decision-making capabilities to enforce cybersecurity change across government, he said.



Additional Resources
Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
WHITE PAPER
Solving application issues over the WAN requires careful consideration. Based on their independent research, Forrester Consulting offers recommendations on how to tackle application performance issues, insufficient bandwidth and the inability to quickly restore users in a disaster.

Read now.

Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

Security White Papers
Overcome Top 7 Admin Challenges of Active Directory
As Active Directory's role in the enterprise has drastically increased, so has the need to secure the data. Gain insight on creating repeatable,...
Insiders Can Ruin Your Company. Take Action.
Did you know that 80 percent of threats to an organization come from the inside? The threat from insiders is often overlooked in...
Top Solutions and Tools to Prevent Devastating Malware
Custom malware frequently goes undetected. According to Forrester Research, the best way to reduce risk of breach is to deploy file integrity monitoring...
X-Ray of the PCI Process-4 Proactive Steps
This white paper from Forrester Research Inc., helps break PCI into understandable components. Security and risk professionals will gain knowledge and insight into...
Identity Governance: The Business Imperatives
This white paper describes the business challenges and opportunities that are driving interest in Identity Governance while discussing considerations your organization should make...
All Security White Papers
Security Webcasts
Live Webcast
Playing Defense: Staying on Top of Your Disaster Recovery Game
When it comes to disaster recovery, rapidly growing data volumes, distributed computing models, and new technologies all combine to present an ever-changing playing...
Introduction to VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5
Traditional disaster recovery solutions are often too expensive, complex and unreliable to meet business requirements. As a result, IT departments are hesitant to...
The Top Ten Secrets to Avoiding SAN Performance Problems
Maintaining peak performance while simultaneously addressing the root cause of SAN errors is challenging. Learn the most common SAN problems and explore new...
Deduplication Without Compromise
Go inside Quantum's scalable, high-performance, multi-protocol new DXi deduplication appliances, designed to make backup much more effective. Discover how the new future-proof DXi6700...
Director of Disk Products Discusses DXi6700
Discover how the new DXi 6700 series of deduplication appliances provide investment protection and a future-proof feature set, all while delivering fast, scalable,...
Playing Defense: Staying on Top of Your Disaster Recovery Game
When it comes to disaster recovery, rapidly growing data volumes, distributed computing models, and new technologies all combine to present an ever-changing playing...
All Security Webcasts
Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs