CISA Chief Calls on Cybersecurity Community to “Stop Selling Fear”

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director Chris Krebs wants government and industry to get a broader community of people involved in the fight against digital threats but not by fearmongering.

Krebs has made it a priority to get more outside groups involved in his agency’s cyber efforts. He attributes the successful defense of the 2018 midterm elections to those partnerships, and in the run-up to the 2020 race and beyond, he wants the broader cybersecurity community to follow CISA’s lead.

Krebs has called on industry and government experts to do more to help society grapple with the growing array of digital threats targeting governments, private companies, and everyday citizens. Those efforts can take in a wide variety of shapes, he said, from helping more small- and medium-size businesses bolster their networks, to supporting cybersecurity education for high school and college students.

It’s easy to incite existential panic around an issue like election security, but Krebs noted those types of fearmongering tactics can often backfire.