Image: Shutterstock. Greg Meland.
President Trump last week issued a flurry of executive orders that upended a number of government initiatives focused on improving the nation’s cybersecurity posture. The president fired all advisors from the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Safety Review Board, called for the creation of a strategic cryptocurrency reserve, and voided a Biden administration action that sought to reduce the risks that artificial intelligence poses to consumers, workers and national security.
On his first full day back in the White House, Trump dismissed all 15 advisory committee members of the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), a nonpartisan government entity established in February 2022 with a mandate to investigate the causes of major cybersecurity events. The CSRB has so far produced three detailed reports, including an analysis of the Log4Shell vulnerability crisis, attacks from the cybercrime group LAPSUS$, and the 2023 Microsoft Exchange Online breach.
The CSRB was in the midst of an inquiry into cyber intrusions uncovered recently across a broad spectrum of U.S. telecommunications providers at the hands of Chinese state-sponsored hackers. One of the CSRB’s most recognizable names is Chris Krebs (no relation), the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Krebs was fired by President Trump in November 2020 for declaring the presidential contest was the most secure in American history, and for refuting Trump’s false claims of election fraud.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, confirmed by the U.S. Senate last week as the new director of the DHS, criticized CISA at her confirmation hearing, TheRecord reports.
Noem told lawmakers CISA needs to be “much more effective, smaller, more nimble, to really fulfill their mission,” which she said should be focused on hardening federal IT systems and hunting for digital intruders. Noem said the agency’s work on fighting misinformation shows it has “gotten far off mission” and involved “using their resources in ways that was never intended.”
“The misinformation and disinformation that they have stuck their toe into and meddled with, should be refocused back onto what their job is,” she said.
Moses Frost, a cybersecurity instructor with the SANS Institute, compared the sacking of the CSRB members to firing all of the experts at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) while they’re in the middle of an investigation into a string of airline disasters.
“I don’t recall seeing an ‘NTSB Board’ being fired during the middle of a plane crash investigation,” Frost said in a recent SANS newsletter. “I can say that the attackers in the phone companies will not stop because the review board has gone away. We do need to figure out how these attacks occurred, and CISA did appear to be doing some good for the vast majority of the federal systems.”
Speaking of transportation, The Record notes that Transportation Security Administration chief David Pekoske was fired despite overseeing critical cybersecurity improvements across pipeline, rail and aviation sectors. Pekoske was appointed by Trump in 2017 and had his 5-year tenure renewed in 2022 by former President Joe Biden.
AI & CRYPTOCURRENCY
Shortly after being sworn in for a second time, Trump voided a Biden executive order that focused on supporting research and development in artificial intelligence. The previous administration’s order on AI was crafted with an eye toward managing the safety and security risks introduced by the technology. But a statement released by the White House said Biden’s approach to AI had hindered development, and that the United States would support AI systems that are “free from ideological bias or engineered social agendas,” to maintain leadership.
The Trump administration issued its own executive order on AI, which calls for an “AI Action Plan” to be led by the assistant to the president for science and technology, the White House “AI & crypto czar,” and the national security advisor. It also directs the White House to revise and reissue policies to federal agencies on the government’s acquisition and governance of AI “to ensure that harmful barriers to America’s AI leadership are eliminated.”
Trump’s AI & crypto czar is David Sacks, an entrepreneur and Silicon Valley venture capitalist who argues that the Biden administration’s approach to AI and cryptocurrency has driven innovation overseas. Sacks recently asserted that non-fungible cryptocurrency tokens and memecoins are neither securities nor commodities, but rather should be treated as “collectibles” like baseball cards and stamps.
There is already a legal definition of collectibles under the U.S. tax code that applies to things like art or antiques, which can be subject to high capital gains taxes. But Joe Hall, a capital markets attorney and partner at Davis Polk, told Fortune there are no market regulations that apply to collectibles under U.S. securities law. Hall said Sacks’ comments “suggest a viewpoint that it would not be appropriate to regulate these things the way we regulate securities.”
The new administration’s position makes sense considering that the Trump family is deeply and personally invested in a number of recent memecoin ventures that have attracted billions from investors. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump each launched their own vanity memecoins this month, dubbed $TRUMP and $MELANIA.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday the market capitalization of $TRUMP stood at about $7 billion, down from a peak of near $15 billion, while $MELANIA is hovering somewhere in the $460 million mark. Just two months before the 2024 election, Trump’s three sons debuted a cryptocurrency token called World Liberty Financial.
Despite maintaining a considerable personal stake in how cryptocurrency is regulated, Trump issued an executive order on January 23 calling for a working group to be chaired by Sacks that would develop “a federal regulatory framework governing digital assets, including stablecoins,” and evaluate the creation of a “strategic national digital assets stockpile.”
Translation: Using taxpayer dollars to prop up the speculative, volatile, and highly risky cryptocurrency industry, which has been marked by endless scams, rug-pulls, 8-figure cyber heists, rampant fraud, and unrestrained innovations in money laundering.
WEAPONIZATION & DISINFORMATION
Prior to the election, President Trump frequently vowed to use a second term to exact retribution against his perceived enemies. Part of that promise materialized in an executive order Trump issued last week titled “Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government,” which decried “an unprecedented, third-world weaponization of prosecutorial power to upend the democratic process,” in the prosecution of more than 1,500 people who invaded the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
On Jan. 21, Trump commuted the sentences of several leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who were convicted of seditious conspiracy. He also issued “a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” which include those who assaulted law enforcement officers.
The New York Times reports “the language of the document suggests — but does not explicitly state — that the Trump administration review will examine the actions of local district attorneys or state officials, such as the district attorneys in Manhattan or Fulton County, Ga., or the New York attorney general, all of whom filed cases against President Trump.”
Another Trump order called “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship” asserts:
“Over the last 4 years, the previous administration trampled free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms, often by exerting substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech that the Federal Government did not approve,” the Trump administration alleged. “Under the guise of combatting ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation,’ the Federal Government infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens across the United States in a manner that advanced the Government’s preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate.”
Both of these executive orders have potential implications for security, privacy and civil liberties activists who have sought to track conspiracy theories and raise awareness about disinformation efforts on social media coming from U.S. adversaries.
In the wake of the 2020 election, Republicans created the House Judiciary Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Led by GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the committee’s stated purpose was to investigate alleged collusion between the Biden administration and tech companies to unconstitutionally shut down political speech.
The GOP committee focused much of its ire at members of the short-lived Disinformation Governance Board, an advisory board to DHS created in 2022 (the “combating misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation” quote from Trump’s executive order is a reference to the board’s stated mission). Conservative groups seized on social media posts made by the director of the board, who resigned after facing death threats. The board was dissolved by DHS soon after.
In his first administration, President Trump created a special prosecutor to probe the origins of the FBI’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives seeking to influence the 2016 election. Part of that inquiry examined evidence gathered by some of the world’s most renowned cybersecurity experts who identified frequent and unexplained communications between an email server used by the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, one of Russia’s largest financial institutions.
Trump’s Special Prosecutor John Durham later subpoenaed and/or deposed dozens of security experts who’d collected, viewed or merely commented on the data. Similar harassment and deposition demands would come from lawyers for Alfa Bank. Durham ultimately indicted Michael Sussman, the former federal cybercrime prosecutor who reported the oddity to the FBI. Sussman was acquitted in May 2022. Last week, Trump appointed Durham to lead the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, NY.
Quinta Jurecic at Lawfare notes that while the executive actions are ominous, they are also vague, and could conceivably generate either a campaign of retaliation, or nothing at all.
“The two orders establish that there will be investigations but leave open the questions of what kind of investigations, what will be investigated, how long this will take, and what the consequences might be,” Jurecic wrote. “It is difficult to draw firm conclusions as to what to expect. Whether this ambiguity is intentional or the result of sloppiness or disagreement within Trump’s team, it has at least one immediate advantage as far as the president is concerned: generating fear among the broad universe of potential subjects of those investigations.”
On Friday, Trump moved to fire at least 17 inspectors general, the government watchdogs who conduct audits and investigations of executive branch actions, and who often uncover instances of government waste, fraud and abuse. Lawfare’s Jack Goldsmith argues that the removals are probably legal even though Trump defied a 2022 law that required congressional notice of the terminations, which Trump did not give.
“Trump probably acted lawfully, I think, because the notice requirement is probably unconstitutional,” Goldsmith wrote. “The real bite in the 2022 law, however, comes in the limitations it places on Trump’s power to replace the terminated IGs—limitations that I believe are constitutional. This aspect of the law will make it hard, but not impossible, for Trump to put loyalists atop the dozens of vacant IG offices around the executive branch. The ultimate fate of IG independence during Trump 2.0, however, depends less on legal protections than on whether Congress, which traditionally protects IGs, stands up for them now. Don’t hold your breath.”
Among the many Biden administration executive orders revoked by President Trump last week was an action from December 2021 establishing the United States Council on Transnational Organized Crime, which is charged with advising the White House on a range of criminal activities, including drug and weapons trafficking, migrant smuggling, human trafficking, cybercrime, intellectual property theft, money laundering, wildlife and timber trafficking, illegal fishing, and illegal mining.
So far, the White House doesn’t appear to have revoked an executive order that former President Biden issued less than a week before President Trump took office. On Jan. 16, 2025, Biden released a directive that focused on improving the security of federal agencies and contractors, and giving the government more power to sanction the hackers who target critical infrastructure.
Thank you for this excellent recap, Brian. I truly appreciate how you’ve pulled together the facts and provided links to help us look back over this past week’s actions.
agree !
And… he shut all this down, just as he launched his own cryptocurrency, *and* China, suspected of the telecom hack, and announced their own, better, AI.
Sold to the highest bidder?
These comments are all over the place. Can someone clarify for me whether this article is left leaning or right leaning? Pro Trump or anti Trump? Is there malicious intent in the presentation of the information that I am just not smart enough to see? Thank you in advance.
I see no direct attack to the person of president Trump. There IS valid criticism of his actions in the facts presented. Kinda how it should be, imo.
Not sure why you’d ask about malicious intent… there isn’t any, it’s information on current political events that heavily impact the cyber realm. That’s the focus of Brian’s website, cybersecurity and surrounding technologies.
average wannabe cybersecurity skid
The only skid here is above.
This should tell you everything you want need to know:
“Krebs was fired by President Trump in November 2020 for declaring the presidential contest was the most secure in American history, and for refuting Trump’s false claims of election fraud.”
Both claims are asinine. I would have fired the guy too.
That was CHRISTOPHER Krebs, not the guy that runs this site. Get your facts straight.
He didn’t claim BK was CK, nor did he claim CK runs this site… get your gripes straight?
Both claims are completely accurate.
VT – Eat it! Cruz is your hero and you’ve got a big orange ass to kiss!
Your comment reminds me of people who hear a politician talk but aren’t sure what to think if they didn’t see if the person has a D or R after their name. Just read the information and make your own assessment of what it means. We’d all be better off if we took in information and made our own judgements rather than be geared up to accept or reject something before we even consume the information.
It’s LEFT leaning, the Krebs running this site has always been a mere tool/useful idiot for the Intel agencies.
Thanks for your courage in doing this summary of events and background information.
Thank you, Brian.
Completely disappointed- this was my favorite cybersecurity blog. Dont be biased
“Don’t be biased”? Ever seen the phrase “facts tend to have a liberal bias”? Brian reported on what’s going on, what do you *think* is going to happen with the corrupt, senile running a hostile takeover of the US?
Seen from across the big water, the mood in this comment section does not bode well for the state of the U.S. these days.
I believe the correct formula is “Our thoughts and prayers are with you all”‘. And thanks a lot Brian for your reporting. I and many others will remain tuned and continue to thoroughly enjoy your reporting.
Glad to hear that all the regime cares about is cutting spending. CISA does SO much more than secure the Feds systems. There will be a lot of smaller government entities who will now be put at risk by these short sighted actions.
Donald’ actions speak to his fear of the truth. Look no further than Chris Krebs statements in the 2020 election. Brian is merely pointing out the obvious, when the facts run counter to Donald’s narrative, he has to strike back. Donald has been a schemer, con man and cheat his whole life – unfortunately, he has the power to strike at those who don’t bow down to his throne.
Brian – keep it going. I wish our congressional representatives had more of a backbone to speak out stronger against these actions – and maybe they will, but thank you for raising the valid points presented here.
While there are valid causes for concern with some of the things that have been put in place so far, the fact that so many things were overlooked out of political convenience to try and dunk on the new administration makes this article mere propaganda with a sprinkling of facts. Funny I don’t recall Brian holding the previous administration to such a high standard. Funny how Brian only found his spine after the election. To pretend there’s no election shenanigans in 2020 when it’s clear looking at the numbers compared to the polls that there’s no way 81 million people voted in 2020 for democrats with such low approval ratings at the time. The cheating was kneecapped this election and we got back to average vote totals. Brian likes to shill for the left but when they change their narrative he thinks his readers are stupid and will believe the new narrative without question. Remember when everyone who questioned the ‘wet market’ narrative was a ‘conspiracy theorist’? Now that the CIA changed their official narrative about the events of 2020 so we can all just memory hole everything the left did to try and get their way. I urge Brian to find a better balance. If I want to read tech content from leftist shills I’d go back to Wired. Do better Brian. No one cares about your personal political beliefs.
Did you take your medicine today? If yes, ask your doctor to double your dose, you really need it
The possibility of Covid coming from a lab has always been considered a possibility. People who suggested that it was were not labeled “conspiracy theorists” (although the confidence that some people displayed in making the claim was out of alignment with known information). Both theories have been entertained and no investigation has ever conclusively came down on one side or the other. Even today, there is no surety. The CIA’s recent statement was made by their own categorization, in low confidence.
People need to stop dragging CS into politics. A ton of the commentary here is slanted to “you’re criticizing my guy, so you suck”. There is no criticism here. All I see Brian doing in this article is recounting facts. If you have trouble with these facts, do your CS thing and verify for god’s sake. He’s not just randomly citing these things, and honestly the vast majority of the information he is citing is coming from independent, non-partisan sources. Well thought out CS takes into account the veracity of information, period. Take from that what you want, but stop screaming at the sky for being blue for the love of…
“a nonpartisan government entity” – No such thing. Everyone is on some side.
That’s not actually true.
the white hats are back in control… trust the plan pqtriots
Articulate article with references.
Thank you.
A rapist, insurrectionist, fascist, multi-felon running next to a Nazi sucks ass at cyber security. Who could have seen that coming? It’s not political, homeboy is a convicted criminal and one of the most deranged people on planet earth.
Holy smokes! I have never seen such a group of infantile, maniacal cult members! …and I’ve been to the “Flat Earthers” booth! Not to worry, Mr. Krebs; I’m sure you’ll have an opportunity to confess your sins to our Lord and Savior, Donald Trump! In the meantime, a Trump Bible will be mailed to you to encourage you to repent! Normally I’d hope these people would comment more often (very entertaining), but this page is better as a source of intellect. Great article, thank you!
Brian, I have been a reader of your column now for a long time. (I don’t have a frame of reference as to number of years but I do know I have worn out at least 4 laptops while your site has been bookmarked.)
You write well, you report well without fear or favor, you are a master techie and you tie it all together by being able to tell a good story. All that said… your most recent column surprised me. In all honesty, I had hoped that you might have broached the ‘recent troubles’ with a discussion focusing on the recent mass email to all dot gov supposedly from OPM that was flagged by the gov exch servers as originating out of domain. I have no idea if there is meat on the story or not but given the cast of characters, one can’t help but be suspicious. In any event, it took courage for you to take the the approach you did in this column. It is noted! Bravo Sir.
I don’t expect that you will be turning your website into a ‘political column’ but you obviously have some passion for the subject matter. If you feel the need to feed this passion by contributing to another site, please do. Let us know where you land, we will follow you. Your voice is needed.
93rd comment, Thurs, 1-10-2025, apologies in advance for making 3 comments on this story,
and you have better more important things to do than to moderate this thread, and I have to
admit I violated my own rule about never feeding the trolls, but
consider adding if possible an upvote/downvote option for each comment,
or enlisting a helper to moderate the swill of bs that you are attracting. I hate to
see that here, when it has been my experience over the years of following you, that
your commenters are generally positive, well-informed, professional types who are
interested in the technical details of the very responsible stories and information you share.
A family member who hosts a successful crime reporting website also permits comments
on the site, and has to delete some comments occasionally when they abuse the privilege
of civil and responsible discourse. In short, my feelings would not be hurt if you or a helper
could cull out the obvious bs.
Letting those who are sincere about communicating about reality
also check a box whether a comment is good or bad, an obvious attempt to muddy the
water, or a veiled bit of backstabbing, may not be an unproductive way of keeping the thread
self-policed. Sorry you have to deal with this.
I asked my brother the other day whether he had heard of the terms:
doxing or swatting as a method to cyber-bully people of good faith online or in their private lives,
but unfortunately he was oblivious that some bad actors sink to that low level of anti-social and
anti-democratic behavior. They are cowards and lack any virtue or honor. I wish you well. sir.
Thanks Brian.
Reminding people of the DNS traffic is important.
Seeing what happened to people who simply gave knowledgeable opinions regarding it is chilling.
Great job Brian….
I love your work Brian!
I have been reading CS for 15 years. This article is true to form for all your work – an impartial statement of the facts. The facts speak for themselves.
Those who are offended by the facts have cause to pause for introspection and reflection.
Thumps up
I predict the creation of a new independent Federal agency: US Cyber Force just like US Space Force. Big thanks to Brian for the article. The way things are going the new US Cyber Force will probably be led by Edward Snowden, because why not… Interesting times indeed… #Idiocracy
Excellent recap of serious issues facing the Cyber Security world. This Admin is far more Fascist than benign and I don’t trust Trump, Musk or his band of hackers as far as I can toss them. There’s a reason, they killed off oversight and are interested in schemes involving Crypto with taxpayers footing the investment. Electing a criminal? Expect crimes.