“Less than three years before Elon Musk tapped him to take part in a sweeping overhaul of the US government, Edward Coristine, then 17, was the subject of a heated dispute between two executives at the Arizona-based cybersecurity firm where he was an intern.
At issue was whether to allow Coristine to keep his job even though he was suspected of leaking proprietary information to a competitor.
“You’re willing to risk our entire network to a 17-year-old?” one frustrated executive asked the company’s CEO in 2022. “Are you for real right now?”
In a recording of the call, reviewed by CNN, Marshal Webb, the CEO of Path Network, a company that offers services to protect businesses from cyberattacks, defended his decision.
He said he wanted to allow Coristine to continue with his internship, in part, because he didn’t want to make him “an enemy” or have him “running amok” with information he was suspected of taking. Webb allowed him to stay with the proviso that the young employee “not be exposed to anything that’s really sensitive.”
That was then.
Today, the 19-year-old, once known by the online moniker “Big Balls,” is part of Musk’s controversial effort to remake the federal government. He is a “senior advisor” with access to various departments, including Homeland Security, FEMA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The details of Coristine’s role with the government are not clear. But his young age and relative lack of experience have raised concerns about his overall suitability for such potentially sensitive work.
Some government experts have
questioned whether Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency – under which Coristine works – has appropriately followed all rules meant to protect US government data. …”
freebeacon.com
maybe?
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