Only now does RSA appoint a security chief?!
RSA has appointed its first chief security officer, three months after a data theft on its network contributed to the hack of the world's biggest defense contractor, and possibly other important customers.
RSA awarded the position to Eddie Schwartz, who held a similar title at NetWitness, the security monitoring firm acquired in April by RSA parent EMC. NetWitness helped untangle the RSA security breach in March that led to the theft of sensitive information of the company's flagship SecureID, which is used by 40 million employees to access confidential networks.
“Good luck to @eddieschwartz,” security blogger Martin McKeay said, in a Twitter dispatch that Schwartz retweeted. “Only job more public and challenging at the moment would be CSO of Sony.” Schwartz then appended the words “I am UP for it! Thanks” to the short post.
RSA has come under blistering criticism partly for falling victim to the attack, but even more so for its handling of the matter afterward. The company disclosed the breach in an undated and vaguely worded letter that said only that undisclosed data had been stolen that “could potentially be used to reduce the effectiveness of a current two-factor authentication implementation as part of a broader attack.”
