Policy & Drama

Where was Nvidia’s security team?

Nvidia’s security chief quietly left in August, and now that CEO Jensen Huang has stepped down over his relationships, including one with an executive at a company suspected of funneling chips to China, a former intelligence officer says it’s the kind of leak that runs everyday conversations, which most corporate security teams are poorly equipped to catch.

Get smart on it

Nvidia's chief security officer departed in August citing health reasons, followed two and a half months later by CEO Jensen Huang's departure over questions about extramarital relationships, including one with an executive at a company under federal investigation. The timing and circumstances raise questions about what Nvidia's security team knew regarding government scrutiny of the company under investigation and Huang's personal relationships, and whether security professionals raised concerns about potential vulnerabilities. Intelligence experts note that affairs can create security risks foreign intelligence services exploit, and that many corporate security teams are underfunded and define their role too narrowly to catch such threats, focusing mainly on cyberattacks and physical security rather than insider threats and executive compromises.

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