DHS announces creation of new cybersecurity review board

The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday the creation of a new Cyber Safety Review Board that will have public and private sector experts examine significant hacking incidents and recommend improvements.

The new board is modeled after the National Transportation Safety Board, which reviews plane crashes and other major accidents, and was mandated by an executive order President Joe Biden signed last May. Some supporters of the new board have criticized DHS for taking so long to get it up and running.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the board will have 15 members and will be a mix of public and private officials.

Robert Silvers, a top DHS policy official, will be the new board’s chairman. And Heather Adkins, a senior director at Google, will be the deputy chair. New board members include officials from the FBI, NSA and Defense Department, as well as Verizon and Microsoft.

The board’s first review will be of the log4j vulnerability, a flaw first made public in December that lets internet-based attackers easily seize control of everything from industrial control systems to web servers and consumer electronics.

Biden’s executive order directed the board to conduct its first review on the massive Russian cyber espionage campaign known as SolarWinds, but DHS said it and the White House now agree that reviewing the log4j incident is the best use of the new board’s expertise.

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