Black Hat 2015: DHS deputy says ‘just trust us’

The deputy head of the Department of Homeland Security implored a group of skeptical security pros at Black Hat 2015 to share information about security incidents and to trust the government to keep it safe.

“We understand the trust deficit that exists in the [security] community,” says Alejandro Mayorkas, deputy secretary of Homeland Security, encouraging attendees to participate in a government program where private businesses share information about cyber threats they encounter.

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Part of the trust problem is that businesses lack confidence that government can secure information it receives, Mayorkas says, citing the massive breach at the Office of Personnel Management. (It didn’t help his cause that as the meeting broke up news also broke that unclassified emails for the Joint Chiefs of Staff had been hacked and the email system shut down for two weeks.)

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