Tim Starks

Washington, D.C., United States

Sr. reporter @CyberScoopNews. Russia-sanctioned. Ex-@washingtonpost @politico. Signal: timstarks.02. Bluesky: timstarks.

Articles

Sen. Murphy: Trump administration has ‘illegally gutted funding for cybersecurity’

6 days ago | cyberscoop.com | Tim Starks

Another top appropriations Democrat criticized budget cuts affecting the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, saying the Trump administration has “illegally gutted funding for cybersecurity.”Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, made his remarks Thursday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a hearing on the administration’s fiscal 2026 budget.
NSO Group owes $168M in damages to WhatsApp over spyware infections, jury says

1 week ago | cyberscoop.com | Tim Starks

A federal jury decided Tuesday that NSO Group must pay WhatsApp approximately $168 million in damages after a judge ruled that it violated anti-hacking laws when 1,400 of the messaging application’s users became infected with Pegasus spyware. It’s the latest in a series of wins in court for WhatsApp in its pioneering lawsuit that has produced revelations about the spyware maker’s operations — and captured the Supreme Court’s attention.
House appropriators have reservations - or worse - about proposed CISA cuts

1 week ago | cyberscoop.com | Tim Starks

House appropriators on Tuesday challenged proposed budget cuts for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, with Democrats saying the Trump administration was disturbingly moving money away from the agency and a key Republican saying he needed to see justifications for the reductions.
Trump administration proposes cutting $491M from CISA budget

1 week ago | cyberscoop.com | Tim Starks

President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget proposal would slash $491 million from the budget of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, according to a summary released Friday. That would amount to a nearly 17% reduction to the agency’s approximately $3 billion budget. The administration did not release a detailed itemization of the cuts, only an outline.
Tariffs could slow replacement of telecom networks, according to industry official

2 weeks ago | cyberscoop.com | Tim Starks

Tariff hikes will drive up prices and make it harder for telecommunications providers to replace networks more vulnerable to Chinese hacker intrusion, an industry official told lawmakers Wednesday. “Tariffs will only raise prices,” David Stehlin, CEO of the Telecommunications Industry Association, told Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla.
Cybersecurity vendors are themselves under attack by hackers, SentinelOne says

2 weeks ago | cyberscoop.com | Tim Starks

Listen to this article 0:00 Learn more. This feature uses an automated voice, which may result in occasional errors in pronunciation, tone, or sentiment.
CISA gets new No. 2: Madhu Gottumukkala

2 weeks ago | cyberscoop.com | Tim Starks

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will soon have a new second-in-command. Madhu Gottumukkala has been named deputy director. He comes over to CISA from his prior position in the South Dakota government, where Kristi Noem was most recently governor before taking over as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Gottumukkala had been commissioner of the Bureau of Information and Telecommunication (BIT) and state chief information officer. He’ll leave BIT on May 16.
AI speeds up analysis work for humans, two federal cyber officials say

2 weeks ago | cyberscoop.com | Tim Starks

Two federal cybersecurity officials said Thursday that they’re using — or contemplating using — artificial intelligence to conduct tasks that speed up the work of human analysts. AI is an important current and future contributor to a variety of security-related administrative jobs like accreditation and compliance, and for the Department of the Air Force as it undertakes modernization efforts, said Lt. Col.
Judge limits evidence about NSO Group customers, victims in damages trial

3 weeks ago | cyberscoop.com | Tim Starks

A federal judge last week placed strict limits on the kind of evidence NSO Group can raise during a trial on damages in the lawsuit WhatsApp brought against the spyware vendor over allegations it hacked 1,400 of the messaging platform’s users. Under the order, NSO Group is prohibited from presenting evidence about its customers’ identities, implying the targeted WhatsApp users are suspected or actual criminals, or alleging that WhatsApp had insufficient security protections.
Chris Krebs resigns from SentinelOne to focus on fighting Trump’s executive order

4 weeks ago | cyberscoop.com | Tim Starks

Chris Krebs has resigned from SentinelOne, saying he needs to devote himself fully to fighting the executive order President Donald Trump signed to target his former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The executive order was a key touchpoint in Trump’s unprecedented campaign to punish those he views as his enemies.