Media Mentions

With expertise in cyber security and national security issues, Matt Ashburn has been trusted and featured in a number of national media outlets.

Fox
News

Google sees new trick in renewed North Korea cyber attacks

“Foreign adversaries remain persistent with ever-evolving techniques to steal valuable information – either for its intrinsic value or to launch additional attacks,” Matt Ashburn, Head of Strategic Initiatives at Authentic8, told Fox News.

“Thankfully, the private sector rapidly uncovered this operation, coordinated with trust and safety teams to prevent risk, and published the research to warn others,” Ashburn said. (Fox News)

Business Insider

Hackers break into Snapchat accounts for ransom

“”The psychological effects can last years,” says Matt Ashburn, a former CIA and White House cybersecurity officer and expert on cybersecurity law enforcement and policy now working for the Silicon Valley cybersecurity company Authentic8. “These are especially egregious attacks on young people, and should be prioritized. The social media platforms should be more responsive.” (Business Insider)

Wired

Russia’s Hacking Frenzy Is a Reckoning

“I liken it to other types of disaster recovery and contingency planning in both the government and the private sector,” says Matt Ashburn, national security engagement lead at the web security firm Authentic8, who was formerly chief information security officer at the National Security Council. “Your whole goal is to maintain operations when there’s an unexpected event. Yet when the pandemic started this year, no one seemed prepared for it, everyone was scrambling. And supply chain attacks are similar—everyone knows about it and is aware of the risk, we know that our most advanced adversaries engage in this type of activity. But there has not been that concerted focus.” (Wired)

Yahoo!
News

Government and industry reeling after Russian hackers pierce internal networks

“Supply chain attacks are a nightmare scenario for cyber-defenders and many organizations, as adversaries can gain access to internal networks by compromising devices or software prior to customer installation,” said Matt Ashburn, the former chief information security officer at the National Security Council, and now head of strategic initiatives at Authentic8, a company that sells cloud browsing tools. “Once installed, compromised items can activate malicious features to enable adversary actions, such as data theft and remote access.” (Yahoo! News)

‘Browser Isolation’ Takes On Entrenched Web Threats

“Despite high security spending, many organizations struggle with security incidents associated with the web browser,” says Matt Ashburn, a former CIA officer and National Security Council director who now heads strategic initiatives at the browser isolation company Authentic8. “As long as a two-way connection is allowed from a computer to the internet, advanced adversaries and criminals will find a way to remain successful.”

SolarWinds Trojan: Affected enterprises must use hot patches, isolate compromised gear

“Supply chain compromises can expose an organization’s internal networks and data, and prevention, detection, and mitigation require mature, cross-functional security capabilities,” said Matt Ashburn, Head of Strategic Initiatives for security vendor Authentic8 in a statement.  “Mitigation and detection of supply chain threats require concerted coordination among traditionally disparate teams, including procurement, logistics, compliance, and security teams.”

Tech
Republic

75% of all 56 US states and territories show signs of vulnerable election IT infrastructure, report finds

“The results are not surprising, and vulnerability management remains a challenge for many organizations. As this analysis shows, security gaps can be amplified by resource constraints, interconnected support systems, and a remote workforce that may increase the vulnerability footprint,” said Matt Ashburn, who served as CISO for the White House’s National Security Council from 2017 to 2019.  (Tech Republic)