Cybersecurity? Get A Former Hacker

The Obama administration has sworn in a white hat hacker as part of Homeland Security's advisory council.

If you want to catch the bad guys, employ someone who used to be one. That seems to be the thinking of the Obama administration. It’s employed Jeff Moss, aka Dark Tangent, on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC).

Moss started out as an illegal hacker in high school before going legit, and now works as a corporate security adviser. He initiated the set up the Black Hat and DEFCON computer conferences, and now he’s been pulled into government work, an indication that the current administration is taking cybercrime very seriously.

He’s one of 25 members of the HSAC, and was sworn in yesterday by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano.