Exclusive: Former cyber chief Jen Easterly joins Huntress as adviser
Why it matters: The news, shared exclusively with Axios, marks the first private sector role for Easterly since she left government — and her first job announcement since West Point rescinded her teaching job offer last week following far-right pressure.
What she's saying: "It was disappointing given my association with West Point — I was a cadet there, I was a professor there for two and a half years — and I was excited about the opportunity to go back and be part of the department where I'd spent so much time," Easterly told Axios.
"I've been super encouraged by the incredible support from the community, to include the amazing cybersecurity community," she added. "Now, I'm really focused on moving forward and working with companies like Huntress."
Zoom in: Huntress, founded by a group of former National Security Agency operators, is a managed services provider that focuses heavily on small to medium-size businesses and is increasingly competing for contracts with larger enterprises. Last year, the company raised a $150 million Series D round valuing it at $1.5 billion.
Easterly said she's eager to join the company because of its focus on protecting what she called " target rich, resource poor" entities, including critical infrastructure operators who don't have the time, money or resources to fight opportunistic cybercriminals and nation-state hackers.
In a statement, Huntress CEO Kyle Hanslovan said the company plans to use Easterly's "expertise to experiment with exciting new ways to harness our threat intelligence, augment our [security operations center] experts with AI, and strengthen our partnerships throughout the industry."
What's next: Finding new ways to tap AI is a top priority for both Huntress and Easterly as she starts her new role.
Huntress has been developing tools to accelerate the use of AI within existing cyber defenses.
"Any business that doesn't figure out how they can leverage the power of AI to augment and assist the incredible technical talent of humans is not going to be successful in this age," Easterly said.
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