[Infowarrior] - Jeff Moss named to DHS HSAC

[Richard Forno]

Hacker named to Homeland Security Advisory Council
by Elinor Mills
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10258634-83.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Jeff Moss, founder of the Black Hat and Defcon hacker and security  
conferences, was among 16 people sworn in on Friday to the Homeland  
Security Advisory Council.

The HSAC members will provide recommendations and advice directly to  
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

Moss' background as a computer hacker (aka "Dark Tangent") and role as  
a luminary among young hackers who flock to Defcon in Las Vegas every  
summer might seem to make him an odd choice to swear allegiance to the  
government. (Although before running his computer conferences, Moss  
also worked in the information system security division at Ernst &  
Young.)

I'd like to hear some of the banter as he rubs elbows with the likes  
of former CIA (Bill Webster) and FBI directors (Louis Freeh), Los  
Angeles County sheriff, Miami mayor, New York police commissioner,  
governors of Maryland and Georgia, former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, and  
the president of the Navajo Nation.

In an interview late on Friday, Moss said he was surprised when he got  
the call and was asked to join the group.

"I know there is a newfound emphasis on cybersecurity and they're  
looking to diversify the members and to have alternative viewpoints,"  
he said. "I think they needed a skeptical outsider's view because that  
has been missing."

Asked if there was anything in particular he would advocate, Moss  
said: "There will be more cyber announcements in coming weeks and once  
that happens my role will become more clear. This meeting was focused  
on Southwest border protection... With things like Fastpass and Safe  
Flight, everything they are doing has some kind of technology  
component."

Moss, who is genuinely humble, said he was "fantastically honored and  
excited to contribute" to the HSAC and not concerned with losing any  
street cred among what some would call his fan base. He did concede  
that his new position would give him an unfair advantage in Defcon's  
"Spot The Fed" contest in which people win prizes for successfully  
outing undercover government agents.

Security consultant Kevin Mitnick, who spent five years in prison on  
computer-related charges and was on the FBI's most wanted list,  
praised Moss' diplomacy, but said: "I'm surprised to see Jeff on the  
list. I would have expected (crypto/security guru and author) Bruce  
Schneier to be on the council."

Moss "is a great crowd pleaser" and "he's just bad enough for them to  
say 'we're crossing the ranks,'" said journalist and threat analyst  
Adrian Lamo, who served two years of probation for breaking into  
computer networks. "But the reality is he's as corporate as hiring  
someone out of Microsoft."



Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET  
News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in  
Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service,  
and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor.