Kwon Resigns as US-CERT Director

No Reason Given for Her Departure
Kwon Resigns as US-CERT Director
Mischel Kwon has resigned as director of the U.S. Computer Emergency Response Team, the Department of Homeland Security said late Friday.

No reason was given for her departure and no replacement had been named.

(Update: Three days later, RSA announced it has hired Kwon as vice president of its public sector security solutions.)

In a statement, Phil Reitinger, deputy undersecretary for National Protection and Programs Directorate and director of the National Cybersecurity Center, thanked Kwon for her service, commending her leadership and the progress she has made at U.S.-CERT over the past year.

"President Obama has made cybersecurity a top priority for the administration, and Secretary (Janet) Napolitano and I are committed to the department's mission to improve collaboration between public and private sector partners to prepare for, prevent and respond to cyber attacks," Reitinger said.

Kwon was the fourth director of U.S.-CERT in five years, and the second cybersecurity official to announce her departure from a highly visible government job within a week. On Monday, Melissa Hathaway announced her departure as the White House acting senior director of cyberspace. Hathaway ha,d conducted a study for the Obama administration assessing the cybersecurity posture of the federal government.

US-CERT oversees the Unites State's response to computer attacks. Founded in 2003, US-CERT cooperates with government and private concerns to collect and distribute information about cyber-related attacks.


About the Author

Eric Chabrow

Eric Chabrow

Retired Executive Editor, GovInfoSecurity

Chabrow, who retired at the end of 2017, hosted and produced the semi-weekly podcast ISMG Security Report and oversaw ISMG's GovInfoSecurity and InfoRiskToday. He's a veteran multimedia journalist who has covered information technology, government and business.




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