Where Was Nvidia's Security Team?
Original: Where was Nvidia’s security team?
Why This Matters
CEO-level counterintelligence exposure at a chip giant signals systemic governance gaps.
Nvidia's CSO David Reber departed in August citing Parkinson's; two months later, CEO Jensen Huang resigned amid reports of an affair with an exec at Megaspeed, a firm under federal investigation for allegedly funneling Nvidia chips to China.
Nvidia's longtime chief security officer David Reber stepped down in August after seven years at the company, citing a Parkinson's diagnosis. His successor, Saša Zdjelar, came from cybersecurity firm ReversingLabs after stints at ExxonMobil and Salesforce. Neither has responded to questions about what the security team knew regarding federal scrutiny of Megaspeed, a Singapore data center company U.S. investigators suspect of diverting Nvidia chips to China.
Two and a half months after Reber's exit, CEO Jensen Huang resigned over reports of an extramarital relationship with a Megaspeed executive, plus two separate affairs with Nvidia employees. The New York Times, citing five Nvidia employees, reported one relationship involved a VP who reported directly to Huang. Reuters separately reported a second relationship.
Nvidia's top lawyer was reportedly engaged with the Megaspeed inquiry over a year ago. Security experts note that an affair, even an internal one, can hand foreign intelligence services leverage — and a relationship with an executive at a company under federal investigation is a different risk category altogether. Retired senior intelligence officer Nicholas Eftimiades, who has trained over 1,000 corporate security professionals, says intelligence collection often happens through ordinary conversation, making it hard for security teams to flag. He also noted that security teams are frequently under-resourced to handle such scenarios.