Ex-federal official joins Sygate board

Sygate Technologies Inc. has added the former vice chair of the Bush administration's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board to its board of directors.

Howard Schmidt, chief information security officer for online auction site eBay, this week joined Sygate's board. Schmidt was vice chair of the now-defunct Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, created by President Bush in October 2001 to coordinate federal agencies responsible for protecting transportation, health care, financial institutions, electric power and other systems the country depends on to function. Schmidt served as vice chair until the administration dissolved the board in March. Many of its responsibilities now fall to the Homeland Security Department .

Sygate, based in Fremont, Calif., specializes in security systems for large enterprises.

Before joining the Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, Schmidt was chief security officer at Microsoft Corp. and managed the security strategies group there. Earlier, he was director of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Computer Forensic Lab and Computer Crime and Information Warfare.