Amit Yoran

t 33, Amit Yoran is one of the youngest directors at the Homeland Security Department. In September 2003, he was named director of the National Cyber-Security Division, filling a position formerly held by cyber-security veteran Richard Clarke when he served at the White House.

Considered one of the stars of cyber-security, Yoran is well regarded in both government and private-sector circles for his business savvy and for his experience and depth of understanding in tracking and assessing cyber-threats.

Yoran was a top Defense Department computer-security expert before co-founding Riptech, in 1998. He later sold the company for $145 million to Symantec, a security-services management company based in California's Silicon Valley. Yoran joined Symantec as a vice president responsible for helping companies secure their computer networks in 40 countries.

Harold Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America, told The Washington Post in September 2003, "I've criticized the lack of attention that the government has paid to cyber-security . . . but naming Amit can get them back on track."

The Cyber-Security Division oversees the Federal Computer Incident Response Center, which helps protect the government's cyber-space from outside attacks, and the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, which works with the CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to monitor Internet attacks and issue public alerts about them.

The division, for example, works to protect the nation's computers against intruders such as the Blaster worm and the SoBig virus that crippled computer systems across the country in 2003.

Yoran's office also focuses on persuading private companies to voluntarily protect their computer networks from attacks-or face government mandates. "Regulation and legislation is one of the [arrows in the quiver] to drive behavior in the public interest," Yoran says.

Clarke, Yoran's predecessor, held the rank of special adviser to the president. After his resignation in early 2003, the Bush administration downgraded the position and moved it to the Homeland Security Department. That decision disturbed some industry officials, who wanted to see the post retain its high profile. But Yoran says he is happy at DHS because that's where the action is. "Strategy and policy take place in the White House," he says. "Operations and execution take place in the agencies."

A native of Westchester County, N.Y., Yoran graduated with a bachelor's degree in computer science from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a master's in computer science from George Washington University.