Cyber adviser lands at eBay

Howard Schmidt, who just left his position as the White House's top information security adviser, is taking his expertise to eBay Inc., the Internet auction company confirmed today.

He will be serving as eBay's chief security officer, said company spokesman Chris Donlay. Prior to his work for the White House, Schmidt was chief security officer at Microsoft Corp.

Schmidt announced last month that he would be leaving the Bush administration for the private sector on May 1.

He departed his government job as many of the responsibilities of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Board — for which he served as vice chairman and then acting chairman — are being transferred to the Homeland Security Department.

Upon announcing his departure, Schmidt told Federal Computer Week that he was looking for a position with a company whose "entire brand is about trust."

He also said that one of his conditions for working in the private sector was that he would be allowed to continue speaking about and working on critical infrastructure protection and the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace.

Schmidt said he will start at eBay after spending this week serving as part of the Army Reserve.