Christopher Painter, coordinator for cyber issues at the State Department, will step down at the end of the month after six years in the job, Nextgov reported Monday.
Painter was one of the officials who urged nations to comply with rules regarding the cyberspace such as agreements to not hack other countries’ cyber emergency responders and critical infrastructure.
He collaborated with government agencies, the National Security Council, the private sector and other State Department branches to help establish an open and inter-operable internet and information infrastructure.
The cyber diplomat represented the U.S. at multiple meetings with cyber officials from other nations including Germany, Japan and South Korea.
Painter and his team worked to implement various regional capacity building programs designed to address cyber challenges around the world and defend networks against operational threats including distributed denial of service and other cyber intrusions.
He also served as deputy assistant director of the FBI‘s cyber division where he co-authored the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace as well as other national and homeland security directives on cyber challenges.
The cyber expert was also a senior director for cyber policy in the National Security Council and principal deputy chief at the Justice Department.