US CERT director resigns

Randy Vickers, the director of the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team, has unexpectedly and rather abruptly resigned his position on Friday.

The fact was discovered by Information Week as it managed to get its hands on an internal email sent to the organization’s staff.

The email offers no explanation about the reasons behind this move – it simply states that Vickers’ last day acting as director was on Friday and that the organization’s deputy director Lee Rock will fill his shoes until a successor is decided upon by the DHS.

Speculation about the unexpected resignation abound amid security experts, some of which think that the recent series of cyber attacks against federal organizations and contractors and the inherent stress that comes with holding such a position might have something to do with it.

US-CERT is responsible for defending federal government computers and networks and private networks deemed essential to the country’s infrastructure from cyber attacks. It has recently issued a comprehensive list of security recommendations for preventing cyber intrusions.