Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has expanded telecom access for essential workers, including public safety and national security professionals. CISA said that as of April 19, it has provided priority telecom services to 65,606 additional public safety and national security professionals, in both the public and private sectors.
“This surge in domain access allows essential critical workers to utilize Federal emergency systems to maintain operational readiness in high-impact areas throughout the COVID-19 response,” CISA noted in a statement.
CISA also announced the upcoming President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee meeting. In a Federal Register post from today, CISA said that the next Advisory Committee meeting will be held via conference call on May 13. The Committee will meet in a closed session before opening the meeting for public comment.
In the closed session, the Advisory Committee will discuss the impact of pandemics on the information and communications technology (ICT) ecosystem and communications resiliency and the Federal government’s efforts concerning 5G technologies.
Adding on to its work shoring up U.S. cybersecurity from COVID-19 related threats, CISA reported on April 17 that it has identified and blocked more than 3,500 COVID-19-related malicious domains and email addresses since the start of the pandemic.
“Cyber hackers are regularly sending emails with malicious attachments or links to fraudulent websites to gain access to company data and resources, or to trick victims into revealing sensitive information or donating to fraudulent charities and causes,” CISA said. “CISA’s cyber defenses help deny malicious actors the ability to utilize the web as a portal for criminal activity and aid law enforcement in bringing violators to justice.”
