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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

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

"The war will be won when we are truly able to catalyze an approach to secure by design software." — Jen Easterly on cybersecurity strategy

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)

Stories

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 administrator approval required. Days earlier, it had expanded Zero-Hour Auto Purge malware removal to all Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 customers. These moves are part of Microsoft's $34 billion bet on 'secure by default' security, following Russian and Chinese attacks on its networks in 2023.

Updated May 20

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 May 16