Jeff Moss, of Black Hat and DefCon fame, has been tapped to join the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC).
Moss is one of 16 appointed to the council late last week by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Comprising experts from state, local and tribal governments; emergency and first responder communities; academia; and the private sector, HSAC is tasked with providing recommendations and advice directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security. Of the 16 members sworn in last week, 10 were new to the council and six were reappointed.
Given his experience as both a white hat and black hat hacker, Moss will serve as an experienced voice on cyber-security issues. Founder of the annual Black Hat and DefCon security conferences, Moss told Wired in an interview that he was both surprised and excited by the appointment.
“I always figured that because of my associations in the past that I would be kind of out of the running for anything like this,” he told Threat Level. “DefCon started as a hacking conference … and I just figured that that past, in a nontraditional beginning, people wouldn’t know how to relate to that. To me it shows that they’re really looking for fresh perspectives.”