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.
Nvidia's former chief security officer and head of product security, David Reber, stepped down in August for health reasons. His successor, Saša Zdjelar, a cybersecurity expert with experience at ExxonMobil and Salesforce, took over in September. However, questions arise about the security team's awareness of Nvidia's scrutiny over Megaspeed, a Singapore data center company, and CEO Jensen Huang's extramarital affairs.
While Reber declined to comment on the transition, security specialists note that affairs with executives at companies under federal investigation can create vulnerabilities exploited by foreign intelligence services. A retired senior intelligence officer explains that collecting such information is challenging, as much of it comes from everyday conversations rather than hacking.
Although some within Nvidia were aware of parts of the situation, it is unclear if this reached the security team. Eftimiades, an expert on Chinese espionage, suggests that security teams are often underfunded and have narrow definitions of security, focusing primarily on physical threats and cyberattacks. He emphasizes the need for security teams to pay greater attention to insider threats and suspicious business relationships.
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