EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

US officials expect that this year’s election cycles will draw international attention, and foreign interference. In a bid to avert cyber threats, the presumptive democratic nominee’s campaign, Joe Biden for President, hired a former White House cyber security advisor, Chris DeRusha, to serve as the campaign’s CISO.

DeRusha’s role will include securing a highly virtualized campaign, and prioritizing cyber projects and policies.

The path to cyber success?

Former CISO for Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign, Mick Baccio, says that in the context of a campaign, a CISO’s success depends on whether or not everyone shares in the CISO’s vision for cyber security. Notably, Baccio resigned from the Buttigieg campaign due to “philosophical differences with the campaign management regarding the architecture and scope of the information security program.”

He hopes that DeRusha avoids a similar fate, and advocates for him to “get a seat at the table.”  It’s incumbent upon DeRusha to maintain open channels of communication with senior management, and to collaboratively define priorities against the existing timeline and resources available. Getting a seat at the table can make or break any CISO role.

What else?

Jacky Chang, who previously worked as a technologist for the Democratic National Committee, was also brought onboard.

“Biden for President takes cybersecurity seriously and is proud to have hired high quality personnel with a diverse breadth of experience, knowledge and expertise to ensure our campaign remains secure,” stated the campaign.

These two hires “will be central to strengthening the infrastructure we’ve built to mitigate cyber threats, bolster our voter protection efforts and enhance the overall efficiency and security of the entire campaign.”

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