Krebs throws himself on the grenade, resigns from SentinelOne after Trump revokes clearances
- Reference: 1744916170
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/04/17/krebs_quits_sentinelone/
- Source link:
Krebs, a Republican who Trump appointed to lead US cybersecurity operations in 2017, was famously [1]fired via tweet five years ago after he publicly contradicted Trump's false claims of election fraud. Krebs declared the 2020 US presidential election "the most secure in American history."
Krebs joined SentinelOne as Chief Intelligence and Public Policy Officer in November 2023 after the security shop snapped up his consultancy, Krebs Stamos Group.
[2]
Last week, Trump issued a [3]memorandum revoking security clearances for Krebs and any entities associated with him, including SentinelOne. The order also directed the Attorney General and the Department of Homeland Security to investigate Krebs' activities during his tenure at CISA, including his assurances of 2020 election security.
[4]
[5]
"For those who know me, you know I don't shy away from tough fights," Krebs [6]said in an email sent to company employees and shared on Wednesday in a LinkedIn post:
But I also know this is one I need to take on fully — outside of SentinelOne. This will require my complete focus and energy. It's a fight for democracy, for freedom of speech, and for the rule of law. I'm prepared to give it everything I've got.
According to the executive order, Krebs' misconduct "involved the censorship of disfavored speech implicating the 2020 election and COVID-19 pandemic."
"Krebs, through CISA, falsely and baselessly denied that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen, including by inappropriately and categorically dismissing widespread election malfeasance and serious vulnerabilities with voting machines," the presidential missive. This despite the complete lack of credible evidence of any voting irregularities or inaccurate results in the 2020 election of Joe Biden as president.
[7]Trump fires cybersecurity boss Chris Krebs for doing his job: Securing the election and telling the truth about it
[8]Trump kills clearances for infosec's SentinelOne, ex-CISA boss Chris Krebs
[9]Ex-CISA chief Krebs calls for US to get serious on security
[10]SolarWinds takes a leaf out of Zoom's book, hires A-Team of Stamos and Krebs to sort out its security woes
SentinelOne had no involvement in Krebs' past government work, and the move to name the cybersecurity firm appears more retaliatory than regulatory.
In response, the former CISA boss "offered his resignation" to SentinelOne CEO Tomer Weingarten.
"This is my fight, not the company's," Krebs says he told his boss.
[11]
"So with that, let's go," Krebs wrote on LinkedIn and signed off: "Illegitimi non carborundum." ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/18/trump_fires_krebs/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cso&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aAF6DBBEf4flnwbBBuholwAAAsc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/10/trump_cisa_investigation_memo/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cso&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aAF6DBBEf4flnwbBBuholwAAAsc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cso&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aAF6DBBEf4flnwbBBuholwAAAsc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/christopherckrebs_krebs-organizational-announcement-ugcPost-7318394837873868800-_sQX/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/18/trump_fires_krebs/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/10/trump_cisa_investigation_memo/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/10/krebs_black_hat/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/11/security_in_brief/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cso&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aAF6DBBEf4flnwbBBuholwAAAsc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Bravo
Nice to see a brave and honest man stand up to a bully.
It will doubtlessly be a long and expensive fight - I hope there are plenty of people willing to put their hand in their wallet and help finance Chris's legal fund.
Damage done
Why should I now trust SentinelOne anyway?
Presumably to keep their security clearance they have to abide by the Presidential line. So if they announce that China-very-very-bad is responsible for an attack or that an ongoing attack from Russia is fake-news, why am I paying them if they are just a replay of Trump's Twitter feed ?
Re: Damage done
9 down votes seems a bit harsh for a fair point. However your point is not limited to SentielOne, it applies to every single company within the grasp of Trump's malicious ketchup stained grasp.
Re: Damage done
Trumplethinskin will take down both SentinelOne and Krebs, just because he can.
A government official resigns after Duh Fuhrer bullies him?
I did Nazi that coming.
Next week :
declaring him a non person and sending him on a vacation to central america.
... until some bright spark notices it costs 8 hrs flight time to send a plane there yet 1 hr to send it out over the ocean and back...
Re: Next week :
Which ocean can you cross in 1h from 'murica? None. Not even with Concorde. No passenger civil plane can. Military and space agencies possibly, but not on short notice, and then withstand G-forces which require training.
Edit: unless you mean "dump into the ocean"....
Re: Next week :
I don't think they were intending the plane to arrive at the other coast before turning back in their example. However, you could cross the Bering strait, which would make the Pacific Ocean an option if you need to make a trans-oceanic flight in that time. True, it's mostly cheating by doing the flying over land to make the ocean bit as fast as possible, but you can manage it.
Re: Next week :
Not needed, it appears DOGE's latest trick is cancelling people's Social Security Number by letting them be declared deceased. Try to come back from the dead after that...
Re: Next week :
You are implying that people who are alive are having their SSN cancelled. Please provide evidence.
Having said that I would not be surprised if this were true, I doubt that Musk would lose much sleep over this. But I will not believe an unsubstantiated rumour.
Re: Next week :
Here ya go:
[1]Trump administration overrode Social Security staff to list immigrants as dead - The Washington Post
If you're declared dead it doesn't just affect your social security, your bank accounts, credit cards, etc... are frozen too.
This is being done to legal foreign residents. And once the courts give up trying to get the Trump administration to stop doing this and to fix the damage already done to these people, then they can start on US citizens.
[1] https://archive.ph/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/12/trump-immigrants-dead-social-security/
Re: Next week :
Oh good, we can add "falsifying government records" to Musk's rap sheet. That's good for up to 20 years in Club Fed.
fluctuat nec mergitur⁽¹⁾ ...
... gaudeamus igitur [1]ipso facto (I think). " It's a fight for democracy " (yes!)!
⁽¹⁾⁻ from Georges Brassens' " Les copains d'abord ", great song!
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegitimi_non_carborundum
Re: fluctuat nec mergitur⁽¹⁾ ...
Georges Brassens is delightful, makes me annoyed I have to research every song to understand it. Sort of the Rammstein of France in that respect. (And quite possibly the only thing they have in common actually hmmm..)
Re: fluctuat nec mergitur⁽¹⁾ ...
It's the motto of Paris, a city of revolution. And yer actual Latin, unlike Illegitimi non carborundum . Interestingly, it seems to be the Ten Thousand Men of Harvard who may be forming a genuine opposition, unlike the millions of "ordinary" Americans who have been hording weapons ostensibly against the return of a King and yet seem unmoved by his arrival. But Harvard has a massive endowment, like Brassens's [1]gorilla , to draw attention to its cause. Hopefully, on this occasion, they have reason to show the judge more respect as he is their only - and perhaps forlorn - hope.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Gorille
It is so refreshing and hopeful to see some people with integrity and a backbone.
Thank you, Mr. Krebs. May your battle with the bastards not grind you down!