Cybersecurity Czar Job Is Useless, Says Spafford 104
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by
Soulskill
from the federal-whipping-czar dept.
from the federal-whipping-czar dept.
Trailrunner7 writes "It's been about seven months since Obama announced his plan to hire a cybersecurity coordinator, and the job is still vacant. Several prominent security experts have turned the position down, and in an interview on Threatpost, Purdue professor Gene Spafford says that the position is pointless. 'It won't have any statutory authority. It won't have any budgetary authority. That does not give it much authority of any kind. So when I hear that there are supposedly people who have been interviewed for this cyber coordinator job and didn't take it, I'm not surprised. It's not a winning position. I'm not at all surprised by the fact that it's empty. That position is a blame-taking position,' Spafford said."
I vote (Score:5, Funny)
...for me? It has Czar in the title, it has to pay more than what I make.
This position (Score:4, Funny)
Well how about that! (Score:2, Funny)
Someone who's actually paid to be the goat.
I can do that! Were can I get a job like that.
Puppet (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I vote (Score:4, Funny)
I find this compensation acceptable, particularly since I'm already in a near-volunteer position that only exists to place blame.
Re:Hey, being a fall guy isn't always so bad (Score:5, Funny)
Pennsylvania is a "minor" state? You realize it's the 6th most populous state, with the 6th most populous city and happened to be one of the key birthplaces of the American revolution, right?
Re:Hey, being a fall guy isn't always so bad (Score:4, Funny)
The last 8 years proved that the set of states in the Union are,
Not minor: Texas, East Texas, Dallas-FortWorth and California
Minor: the other states.
I'll take it (Score:3, Funny)
Here's a photo of me on the job: http://www.frogview.com/uploadimages/45f9f6b1c0ed04.86765571frogview-gallery.jpg [frogview.com]
Pick me! Pick me! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I vote (Score:1, Funny)
By that logic you must agree that Eminem a white nigger.
Re:Recession (Score:4, Funny)
I'll take it. I've even worked in security, although as a programmer not as an executive or highly respected author and lecturer (e.g., Bruce Schneier)
That's okay. As far as I know, few highly respected authors and lecturers have been asked. And asked or not, several such people have preemptively refused the, er, honor.
which is what I imagine they want and will never get.
If they wanted, I imagine they would've asked more people who could do it.
Where do I send my resumé?
First print off a copy of everything you've ever said online and send it so they can check it for anything embarrassing. I gather that's what one of their pre-screening requirements was. Which is to say, they want people who have never used the internet for their security czar.
Czar logic (Score:5, Funny)
But the drug czars have failed to stop drugs, so therefore a cybersecurity czar would improve cybersecurity!
I finally understand government logic!
Re:Hey, being a fall guy isn't always so bad (Score:5, Funny)
You realize it's the 6th most populous state, with the 6th most populous city...
And it happens to be the 6th largest [actionpa.org] emitter of carbon dioxide. Could Pennsylvania be, hmmm... SATAN!?!
Re:I vote (Score:5, Funny)
Among other things they want to know every single handle that you've ever used online, every single website that you've posted on...
This is what disqualified me when I applied. I told them I sometimes used "Anonymous Coward" on slashdot.org...
Re:I vote (Score:3, Funny)
You work on a helpdesk?