“Don’t back down” seems to be the motto of the Trump administration’s former CISA director.
After a move by the White House seen in the cybersecurity world as retaliation for his criticism of the president, Chris Krebs is leaving SentinelOne.
Krebs made the announcement Apr. 16, telling colleagues at the security firm in an email that he was moving on. His resignation had already been discussed with SentinelOne CEO Tomer Weingarten, Krebs explained.
“As many of you know, when the news broke last week about the executive order, one that directly named me and referenced SentinelOne, I immediately reached out to Tomer,” Krebs wrote. “I told him what I firmly believe: This is my fight, not the company’s, and I offered my resignation.”
White House down. President Donald Trump on Apr. 9 directed the Justice Department to open an investigation into Krebs and Miles Taylor. Both men served in the government during Trump’s first term, Krebs as director of CISA and Taylor as DHS chief of staff, and both were later critical of the president.
After the 2020 election, which Trump lost and contested the legitimacy of in the days following the vote, Krebs said there were no credible claims of fraud. He was fired by Trump shortly thereafter. Taylor wrote a book about the White House and endorsed Biden in 2020.
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Fighting back. Some in the industry, like SentinelOne CISO Alex Stamos, who founded a consulting firm with Krebs, spoke out about Trump’s move, writing in a LinkedIn post that for his former colleague “to face a legal attack that was marked out-of-bounds at the founding of our nation should be publicly condemned by any American who believes in the Constitution as the guiding document of our country.”
Luta Security founder and CEO Katie Moussouris also weighed in, writing Apr. 12 that the investigation was setting a dangerous precedent.
“Targeting a former government employee for doing their job and broadening it to their current employer half a decade later will have a chilling effect that makes us all less safe,” Moussouris wrote. “Companies will hesitate to hire former government cybersecurity experts, depriving the private sector of their much-needed experience and perspective, and the federal government will have an even harder time attracting and retaining top cybersecurity talent.”
As for Krebs, he sounded a note of defiance in a LinkedIn post of his own, signing off with “Illegitimi non carborundum,” mock-Latin for “don’t let the bastards grind you down.”