Eric Geller

👋 It's my first day as a senior reporter at Cybersecurity Dive! I'm still getting onboarded, but please send me your cyber news tips! My email is egeller@industrydive.com and my Signal username is ericgeller.01.

I'm excited to announce that I'll be joining Cybersecurity Dive as their senior reporter on April 21. My exact beat is TBD, but I'll still be covering many of the same stories. I'll be focusing on news that decision-makers need to do their jobs. Can't wait to get started! https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/

I've got a big new story in WIRED about how Trump's layoffs and policy changes have plunged the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency into turmoil.

https://www.wired.com/story/inside-cisa-under-trump/

I wrote about the fate of President Biden's cybersecurity agenda under a second Trump administration — what's out, what's in jeopardy, and what's next. https://www.wired.com/story/trump-administration-cybersecurity-policy-reversals/

It's the six-month anniversary of CISA's secure-by-design pledge. I talked to @jackhcable@mastodon.social about how things are going and what's next: https://therecord.media/cisa-jack-cable-interview-secure-by-design-pledge-update

New details in here about participant workshops, CISA's plans for tracking progress, and version 2.0 of the pledge.

Six years after a major congressionally chartered cybersecurity commission urged lawmakers to make software vendors legally liable for product failures, very little has been done.

My new story explores the legal, technical, and political challenges facing software liability.

https://therecord.media/cybersecurity-software-liability-standards-white-house-struggle

NEW: Trump has promised to scrap Biden's AI executive order if he wins re-election. What would that mean for Biden's AI safety and security agenda?

My WIRED story explores why conservatives hate these projects and why many experts say they're vital: https://www.wired.com/story/donald-trump-ai-safety-regulation/

New: Project 2025 would strip CISA of key election security roles, transfer the agency to a new department, and slash various missions.

Experts say it would profoundly weaken the agency.

My story for WIRED: https://www.wired.com/story/project-2025-cisa-election-critical-infrastructure-security/

Tucked into the Senate's intelligence community funding bill: Mark Warner and Susan Collins' bill codifying the Election Assistance Commission's penetration testing of voting equipment and creating a vulnerability disclosure pilot program for election technology.

My story: https://www.wired.com/story/a-senate-bill-would-radically-improve-voting-machine-security/

I got exclusive access to the State Department's tech and cyber training program for diplomats, where Foreign Service Officers learn how the internet works, what ransomware is, why digital freedom matters, and how to advance America's tech agenda in their host countries. https://www.wired.com/story/us-state-department-diplomacy-school/

With the Biden White House pressuring corporate America to take cybersecurity more seriously, the Justice Department is ramping up its use of a Civil War-era law to hold federal contractors accountable for cyber failures.

My new story about this initiative: https://therecord.media/doj-corporate-cybersecurity-false-claims-act-enforcement

Scoop: The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is asking software companies to sign a pledge committing them to implementing seven key "secure-by-design" goals.

CISA plans to announce the pledge with ~50 signatories at the RSA cyber conference next week.

It's a major test of the efficacy of CISA's secure-by-design campaign.

https://www.wired.com/story/cisa-cybersecurity-pledge/

I am not exaggerating when I say that today's new episode of Hoth Takes features the best Star Wars pitch that my co-hosts and I have ever come up with together.

https://hothtakes.wordpress.com/2024/04/22/hoth-takes-49-thrawn-in-sixty-seconds/

The U.S. government has a Microsoft problem.

Market dominance, bureaucratic inertia, and a savvy PR campaign have almost completely insulated the hack-plagued company from meaningful oversight, even as Biden administration officials preach corporate accountability.

My new Wired story explains.

https://www.wired.com/story/the-us-government-has-a-microsoft-problem/

Phishing attacks are wildly successful. AI is likely to make them even more effective.

My new feature, part of a package of spooky stories published today in The Messenger, explores what these smarter attacks will look like and how we'll have to respond.

https://themessenger.com/tech/hackers-artificial-intelligence-phishing-scams-attacks

I'm back from Las Vegas, where I covered the Black Hat and DEF CON conferences.

Here are the stories I wrote there, including several exclusive interviews and event dispatches:

https://themessenger.com/news/darpa-ai-cyber-challenge-vulnerability-fixing-software

https://themessenger.com/tech/black-hat-cybersecurity-jen-easterly-ukraine-victor-zhora

https://themessenger.com/tech/the-government-has-a-plan-to-get-tech-companies-to-take-cybersecurity-seriously

https://themessenger.com/tech/why-the-us-military-wants-you-to-rethink-the-idea-of-cyber-war

https://themessenger.com/tech/inside-the-room-where-hackers-helped-the-government-fight-a-cyberattack-trend

https://themessenger.com/tech/biden-administration-hackers-cisa-def-con-cybersecurity

https://themessenger.com/tech/how-the-white-house-wants-to-teach-kids-about-cybersecurity-protect-ev-chargers-and-hold-software-firms-accountable

https://themessenger.com/politics/tsa-chief-says-he-needs-more-staff-to-help-protect-pipelines-railroads-and-air-travel-from-hackers

I got data from the Environmental Protection Agency showing how water utilities are struggling to make cybersecurity improvements that are vital to protecting our water supply from hackers.

I also broke the news here that the EPA has stopped collecting this data itself.

https://themessenger.com/tech/exclusive-america-is-struggling-to-safeguard-water-supply-from-hackers-new-epa-data-shows

My first feature story for The Messenger is about why major tech companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are flouting some of the Biden administration's new recommendations for making their widely used products "secure by default."

Companies currently have few incentives to adopt the recommendations, but the U.S. government says it's working diligently to change their minds.

https://themessenger.com/tech/amazon-google-biden-cybersecurity-policy