Well-Known Hacker Appointed to DHS Advisory Team

This was written by Jack Mann on Tuesday, June 9, 2009, 13:38.

Hacker and Information Security consultant Jeff Moss has joined the cybersecurity advisory team at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  Moss, founder of the hacker groups Black Hat and DefCon, along with other members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC), was sworn in Friday by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano.

The panel is composed of 15 other prominent law enforcement figures, including former FBI director Louis Freeh, co-chair of the 9/11 Commission, former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-IN), former Bush counterterrorism advisor Frances Fragos Townsend, and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Moss believes his past experience made him a choice of DHS for the panel, as he told CNet News, “I know there is a newfound emphasis on cybersecurity and they’re looking to diversify the members and to have alternative viewpoints.  I think they needed a skeptical outsider’s view because that has been missing.”

The HSAC advises DHS secretary on matters related to homeland security policy.