The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's will welcome hackers to its newly developed advisory board, Nextgov reported Nov. 10.
Jen Easterly, the director of CISA, said Nov. 10 at an event hosted by Wired that she is reshaping CISA's strategy by leveraging the talent of hackers who can discover vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure agencies, but are willing to allow federal agencies to patch them.
These hackers would have the opportunity to defend critical infrastructure, such as hospitals, from attack, instead of selling the vulnerabilities to bad actors who could exploit them.
The Department of Homeland Security officially unveiled the Cybersecurity Advisory Committee Nov. 5. Its goals will be to develop recommendations on policies, training and planning as it pertains to cybersecurity. The committee will have no more than 35 members and must have at least one member from each of 12 industries, including healthcare. The rest of the committee members will be up to Ms. Easterly's discretion, according to the report.
"There are many of them and I think it's hugely important," she said. "I'll be bringing some folks on our soon to be announced Cybersecurity Advisory Committee, who specifically I'm going to ask to help me do that."