UPDATED 20:44 EST / JANUARY 12 2017

INFRA

Donald Trump picks Rudy Giuliani as cyber security advisor

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani will advise the incoming administration on cyber security matters, President-elect Trump’s transition team announced Thursday.

Despite critical remarks by some in the media, Giuliani comes into the role with some experience, not only from his days of implementing tough law-and-order policies in New York but as the chairman of Giuliani Partners, a security and crisis management consulting firm.

As part of the as-yet unnamed role, Giuliani will arrange meetings between President Trump and senior corporate executives from companies that have faced or are facing similar cyber security challenges to the government in areas such as hacking, intrusions, disruptions, manipulations, theft of data and identities, and securing information technology infrastructure.

“As the use of modern communications and technology has moved forward at unparalleled speed, the necessary defenses have lagged behind,” the Trump transition team said in a statement. Exactly which companies and executives will be invited to the planned meetings was not made clear, with the transition team only saying that the “attendees may or may not change from session to session,” depending on the agenda set for each meeting.

“The president-elect decided that he wanted to bring in, on a regular basis, the people in the private sector, the corporate leaders in particular, and thoughts leaders in the private sector, who are working on security for cyber, because we’re so far behind,” Giuliani said in an interview on Fox & Friends following the announcement of his appointment to the role.

Image credit: gageskidmore/Flickr/CC by 2.0

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