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DOGE axes CISA 'red team' staffers amid ongoing federal cuts:
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has fired more than a hundred employees working for the U.S. government's cybersecurity agency CISA, including "red team" staffers, two people affected by the layoffs told TechCrunch.
The people, who asked not to be named, said affected employees were axed immediately when their network access was revoked with no prior warning.
The layoffs, which happened in late February and early March, are the latest round of staff cuts to hit the federal cybersecurity agency since the start of the Trump administration.
CISA spokesperson Tess Hyre declined to comment on the latest round of job cuts affecting the agency and wouldn't say how many employees had been affected. Hyre told TechCrunch that CISA's red team "remains operational" but said the agency is "reviewing all contracts to ensure that they align with the priorities of the new administration."
One of the people affected told TechCrunch that CISA red team employees, who simulate real-world attacks to identify security weaknesses in networks before attackers do, were affected by the DOGE-enforced cuts.
Another person affected by the layoffs, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of government retaliation, told TechCrunch that laid-off employees also include staffers who worked for CISA's Cyber Incident Response Team (CIRT), which is responsible for penetration testing and vulnerability management of networks belonging to U.S. federal government departments and agencies.
[...] This is by our count the third known round of job cuts to affect CISA employees since January 20. More than 130 CISA employees were cut by DOGE earlier in February, according to reports, and several CISA employees working on election security were placed on leave in January.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Mojibake Tengu on Wednesday March 12, @07:36PM (6 children)
CISA "red team" is attackers.
No pity for them. Specialization is for insects, anyway.
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 12, @09:08PM
That's exactly what your DADDY Vlady, said as well.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday March 12, @09:22PM
Who are probably the most diverse and successful group of multicellular organisms on Earth. Specialization hasn't hurt them a bit!
Really, the key value of specialization is when you don't have the mental capacity to do everything. Not everyone can be a polymath. And my view is that it's better to do a few things really well than a lot of things badly. You can always do that cooperation thing and get other people to cover the many things you can't do well yourself.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 12, @09:44PM (2 children)
This comment gives a new meaning to stupid.
Almost every single job on the planet is a specialization of skills - even the low paying ones. Without it, our society would never have made it out of the Stone Age.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Mojibake Tengu on Wednesday March 12, @10:15PM (1 child)
CISA "red team" specialises for aggression.
That's how I see them. They simply dont' know better.
I value them at the organisms level equal to horseflies or hornets.
They well deserved to be smashed.
May they find a better use for themselves.
I humbly hold to me being stupid.
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by zocalo on Thursday March 13, @08:25AM
They are most definitely not the equivalent of the DPRK's hackers looking to disrupt infrastructure, steal crypto, and all that other stuff. They might know how to do some, or all of that, but that is not their remit in the slightest.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday March 13, @10:44AM
So they're responsible for among other things finding vulnerabilities in our own stuff that the various Bad Guys of the world could exploit before the Bad Guys do? That seems useful.
Even if their main role is attacking other countries, there are worse things than, say, stopping the Iranians from getting nukes.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin