Late Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump fired the chief of the CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency), Chris Krebs. This was a retaliatory move by the president after Krebs tried to curb the spread of misinformation on the contested presidential election.
President Trump himself tweeted the news from the White House. In the tweet, he stated the reason for Krebs’ removal – making inaccurate statements about the security of the 2020 presidential election. Trump said that “effective immediately”, Chris Krebs had been terminated as the director of the CISA.
In replying, Krebs took to Twitter and wrote: “Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure (Tomorrow). #Protect2020”.
The CISA was created in 2018 by legislation passed during the Trump administration. The agency has played a very important role in mitigating cyberthreats. Before and after the election, CISA has been very proactive in issuing advisories on election rumours and election-related ransomware. It is noteworthy that the CISA under Chris Krebs issued a barrage of cybersecurity advisories – protection against Emotet malware, protection against LokiBot malware, and warnings of incoming ransomware attacks on healthcare services.
Krebs was the first director of the CISA. Before taking up the mantle of the CISA, he had been an officer in the Department of Homeland Security.
Throughout the 2020 electoral process, Krebs was working hard to stop rumors that were circulating. Specifically, he clarified on all l kinds of misinformation about the voting process, and it’s legalities. After the election, the CISA labelled the 2020 election to be the most secure election in history.
A quirky fact about Christopher Krebs – the man wore fancy socks every time he made a public appearance. These socks would often propagate some message or the other about the situation at hand. A few days after the election on November 3, he shared an image of his socks designed as the flag of the USA. He stated that this gesture was for the election workers.
