By Raphael Satter and AJ Vicens
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The cybersecurity industry has gone mostly quiet after President Donald Trump took action against one of its prominent members.
Trump on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of security clearances of SentinelOne executives and employees, part of a campaign to use the might of the U.S. government to crush his political opponents.
SentinelOne’s offense was hiring former Trump appointee Chris Krebs as chief intelligence and public policy officer. Krebs served as the first director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the U.S. civilian cyber defense agency, but he enraged Trump in November 2020 by refusing to endorse the bogus claim that Democrat Joe Biden stole the presidential election. The move led to Trump firing him over Twitter.
In a White House memo explaining the move, Trump accused Krebs, a Republican, of having “suppressed conservative viewpoints.” The memo provided no evidence and did not explain why SentinelOne had anything to do with the matter. CISA referred questions to the White House, which did not return an email seeking comment.
Krebs’ refusal to back Trump’s false election claims made him a hero in Washington cyber circles. Following a 2021 appearance at an information security conference, organizers handed Krebs a flight jacket bearing the words, “FIRED BY TWEET.”
Krebs’ speech was followed by applause then, but Reuters found little sign of industry support for Krebs or SentinelOne as they face Trump now.
Katie Moussouris, founder of Luta Security, said she doubted the industry would publicly back SentinelOne given the White House’s actions.
“I don’t think it’s feasible for cybersecurity companies to have a broader response on this,” she said. “The risk is just too high.”
Reuters contacted 33 of the largest U.S. cybersecurity companies, including tech companies and professional services firms with large cybersecurity practices, and three industry groups, for comment on Trump’s action against SentinelOne.
Only one offered comment on Trump’s action. The rest declined, did not respond or did not answer questions.
Microsoft, where Krebs worked as a director between 2014 and 2017, according to Krebs’ LinkedIn profile, was one of 11 companies that declined to comment on Trump’s move against SentinelOne. Rubrik, which formerly had Krebs as part of an advisory board, said only that the board had been inactive since 2023, but did not address questions about Krebs or SentinelOne.
Twenty-four other businesses and trade groups did not respond to requests for comment. Among them was CrowdStrike, whose work defending the Democratic National Committee from Russian hackers in 2016 has long made it the object of conspiracy theories spread by Trump and others.
The National Cybersecurity Alliance, where Krebs briefly served as vice chair before joining CISA, did not return emails. The Cloud Security Alliance, of which SentinelOne is a member, declined comment.
The only group to comment on SentinelOne’s situation was the Washington-based Cyber Threat Alliance, whose president described the White House memo ordering the restrictions on SentinelOne as carrying numerous falsehoods.
“Targeting a company because the president does not like someone in the company is an example of the very weaponization of the federal government the memo claims to be combating,” president Michael Daniel said.
In a statement on Wednesday, SentinelOne said it did not expect the restrictions to materially affect its business. Nevertheless, its share price dropped 7% on Thursday, sliding more sharply than its cyber peers.
A cybersecurity executive told Reuters that by going after someone as high-profile as his own former CISA chief, Trump was cowing the industry into silence.
“If they are willing to crush Krebs, what do you think they’ll do to me or others like me?” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Krebs did not respond to requests for comment, but reposted on social media a statement he issued shortly after he was fired in 2020: “Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure Tomorrow.”
(Reporting by Raphael SatterEditing by Rod Nickel)
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