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Jen Easterly

Jen Easterly

Former United States Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

Appears in 2 stories

Born: 1968 (age 57 years)
Education: United States Military Academy (1990), Winston Churchill High School (1986), and Pembroke College
Previous office: United States Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (2021–2025)
Nationality: American

Notable Quotes

A war in Asia will be accompanied by very serious threats to Americans—the explosion of pipelines, the pollution of water systems, the derailing of our transportation systems, the severing of our communications. (August 2024)

The PRC cyber threat is not theoretical: CISA teams have found and eradicated Volt Typhoon intrusions into critical infrastructure across multiple sectors. And what we've found to date is likely the tip of the iceberg. (Congressional testimony, January 2024)

"Technology manufacturers are using us, the users, as their crash test dummies. We find ourselves blaming the user for unsafe technology." — Jen Easterly, 2023

Stories

China's silent invasion: hackers embedded in America's critical infrastructure

Force in Play

Leading federal critical infrastructure defense efforts

Chinese hackers have burrowed deep into America's power grids, water systems, telecommunications networks, and transportation infrastructure—not to steal secrets, but to flip a kill switch. The Pentagon's December 2024 report confirms Beijing expects to fight and win a war over Taiwan by 2027.

Updated 1 hour ago

Microsoft flips the security switch

Rule Changes

Leading U.S. government push for secure-by-design principles

On January 12, 2026, millions of Teams users woke up to find their security settings had changed overnight. Microsoft activated weaponizable file blocking, malicious URL detection, and phishing protections across every organization still using default configurations—no IT administrator approval required. Days earlier, the company had quietly expanded Zero-Hour Auto Purge malware removal to all Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 customers, creating a one-two punch of automated threat protection. The moves mark the sharpest turn yet in Microsoft's $34 billion bet that 'secure by default' can repair its battered reputation after Russian and Chinese hackers ransacked its networks in 2023.

Updated Jan 14