Headline
Trump Fires Cyber Safety Board Investigating Salt Typhoon Hackers
In a letter sent today, the acting DHS secretary terminated membership to all advisory boards, including the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB) tasked with investigating state-sponsored cyber threats against the US.
Source: Sipa USA via Alamy Stock Photos
Editor’s note: This story was updated on 1-22-25 to reflect that Chris Krebs resigned from the CSRB on Jan. 18, prior to President Trump taking office.
NEWS BRIEF
In its first full day, the Trump administration axed all advisory committee members within the Department of Homeland Security, including the people that make up the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB). The CSRB was actively working on investigating Salt Typhoon, the Chinese state-sponsored hacking group responsible for breaches of at least nine telecommunications networks in the past several months.
In a letter dated Jan. 20, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Benjamine C. Huffman said the move was meant to avoid a “misuse of resources,” and terminated all current memberships on advisory committees immediately.
Members of the CSRB include a who’s who of cybersecurity, from companies such as Sentinel One, represented by former CISA head Chris Krebs, who was fired in 2020 as head of CISA in the waning days of the previous Trump administration. Prior to the letter, on Jan 18., Krebs preemptively resigned from the board ahead of Trump taking office. The CSRB also included several former Biden administration officials. It was created as part of Biden’s 2021 cybersecurity executive order to “review and assess … significant cyber incidents” impacting the federal executive branch of the US government.
While the letter did not enumerate which committees might be reconstituted with new participants, it did add that, in general, dismissed DHS committee members are welcome to reapply to DHS in the future, according to a copy of the letter shared by Eric Geller on X.
“Future committee activities will be focused solely on advancing our critical mission to protect the homeland and support DHS’s strategic priorities,” the letter read before thanking the outgoing members for their service.
About the Author
Dark Reading
Becky Bracken is a veteran multimedia journalist covering cybersecurity for Dark Reading.