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Donna Dodson leaves top cyber position in NIST’s IT lab

NIST's top cyber adviser is leaving the agency after decades of work in IT and emerging technology.
NIST's Donna Dodson at UConn
Donna Dodson speaks in 2015 at the Center of Excellence for Security Innovation (CSI), a collaboration between UConn School of Engineering and Comcast. (Chris LaRosa/UConn)

Donna Dodson’s last day as chief cybersecurity adviser for the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Information Technology Laboratory will be Friday, the agency announced.

Dodson also will be leaving behind her job as director of the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence at NIST, a title she has held since 2012. She joined the agency in 1987 and held a range of technology leadership positions.

For her work in cybersecurity and IT she earned several awards, including a FedScoop 2018 top women in tech award. Her latest portfolio as top cybersecurity official was massive, ranging from work on artificial intelligence to “baking” security into the growing Internet of Things.

“The most critical part of my job is looking strategically at the changes we’re seeing across the digital infrastructure, the changes in the threat environment and the existing vulnerabilities,” she told FedScoop in 2017.

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It’s unclear where Dodson’s next move will be.

In her work to enhance cybersecurity, Dodson worked to incorporate elements beyond technology and have the people and policy behind the technology be a part of the equation.

“Cybersecurity is really about people, policy, process and technology. And I think we need to look at all of those, not just the coolest new technology,” she said.

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