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Obama To Name Melissa Hathaway Cybersecurity Chief

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the how-do-i-get-tsar-in-my-title dept.

hargrand writes "President Obama has found the cyber tsar to head his new White House office of cybersecurity. According to US press reports this morning, an announcement expected later today will confirm Melissa Hathaway is to come in as cyber chief, after being cyber coordination executive for the director of national intelligence."

9 of 188 comments (clear)

  1. Anyone have a picture of her? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I'm trying to remember if I met her or not. If she's the person I'm thinking of then I don't think she is a good choice.

  2. CYBER by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Am I the only one who *hates* the word cyber?
    Is it a generational thing? Does it have something to do with Lawnmower Man?

    --
    If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
    1. Re:CYBER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I hate the use of tsar it refered to rulers originally ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar ) and now it's used more like executive or manager for these new departments in government.... why don't we have the King of Homeland Security or the Emperor of Central Intelligence or is there a Dictator of Finance? Geez people!!!

      Oh I got it Cyber-lord of Internet Content Purification and Control.... perfect!

    2. Re:CYBER by hey! · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well, cybernetics came into widespread use meaning the study of feedback and control systems.

      Computers obviously have considerable applications to many modern control applications. However, it was premature in the 80's and 90's to refer to anything computer related as "cyber-". The case may somewhat different today, particularly in regard to security.

      A system's property of "security" is not inherent in the security of its parts, it is not in any way shape or form the sum of the security of its parts. A secure system may include some insecure components, and an insecure system may contain nothing but secure components. Therefore it is possible to argue that security is truly a cybernetic phenomenon, in which we try to keep the system in some kind of defined state (including defined states of knowledge and ignorance on the part of its participants).

      That' said, people who use the prefix "cyber-" to refer to anything related to computers are morons.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  3. Change by cats2ndlife · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If she can somehow become the poster girl for geeky women and bring more of those into our line of work to lighten up the workplace, that'll be awesome. Now that's progress my friends.

  4. Re:Tsar or Tsaritsa? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You may or may not be right. The wiki article you linked doesn't make clear if tsaritsa means only tsar's wife or a ruler on its own.

    E.g. due to this distinction in Poland they crowned female ruler as king: Hedwig Rex Poloniae not Hedwig Regina Poloniae.

  5. I would have gone with... by GPLDAN · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Marcus Ranum myself.

    This woman helped politic the CNCI into existence.

    This editorial says more about the uselessness of that than I ever could:
    http://duvet-dayz.com/archives/2008/07/21/805/


    One of Obama's weakest appointments, and yes - I voted for him.

  6. ha good choice by afxgrin · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Come on - a woman as head of cybersecurity? This is like trolling the entire male IT world. If there's any single woman who's computer is going to be the focus of internet attacks - it's going to be hers. :-)

    It's not that I have anything with women in positions of authority, but this is different - I think Obama is underestimating the collective power of the patriarchal IT industry.

    Rule 34 if she looks anything like that actress named Anne.

  7. Do all these "Tsars" piss anyone else off? by mahsah · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I thought we didn't have titles of nobility or royalty in America. FYI "Tsar/Czar" comes from "Caesar".

    Or maybe it is appropriate these days...