The White House Cybersecurity Chief has been fired

White House

The chief information security officer for the White House’s Executive Office of the President, the employee responsible for cyber-securing the President of the United States, is no longer in his position, according to multiple reports.

Cory Louie was appointed by President Obama in 2015, tasked with securing the President and the staff closest to him from cybersecurity threats presented by nation-state malicious hackers.

As the Chief Information Security Officer, Louie is responsible for “the security of all White House Internal networks, communications, device and data.” While the importance of the job cannot be overstated, reports from last month have revealed that President Trump uses, to this day, “his old, unsecured Android phone” as his primary device for tweeting on Twitter.

A New York Times report from January 25 revealed, days after his inauguration, revealed:

Mr. Trump’s wife, Melania, went back to New York on Sunday night with their 10-year-old son, Barron, and so Mr. Trump has the television – and his old, unsecured Android phone, to the protests of some of his aides – to keep him company.

According to ZDNet, Louie was either fired or forced to resign a week ago. He was reportedly escorted out of his office situated in the Eisenhower Executive Office building. The White House has stayed silent on the matter, offering no details about Louie’s departure.

According to one source, ZDNet claims Louie’s departure was a part of a “witch hunt” for former Obama appointees, with the remaining staff supposedly having “targets on their back” in a “toxic” working environment.

Louie previously held security positions at Google and Dropbox, before becoming a part of former President Obama’s cybersecurity national action plan by joining the White House as a federal chief information security officer, a new position created as a part of the plan.

Meanwhile, President Trump was advised to upgrade to a secure, encrypted device approved by the Secret Service from his old Android phone. Several reports claim that the President has not switched over and is still using the old Android device, believed to be a Samsung S3 which came out in 2012.

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