The Federal government – galvanized by the Biden Administration’s Cybersecurity Executive Order – has spent a lot of time and money on cybersecurity solutions, but as the digital landscape continues to evolve so does the risk.
In the continual march toward better protection for their networks, Federal agencies and industry need to partner with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said a senior agency official on July 21 at the MerITocracy American Innovation Forum.
“Our goal at CISA is to transform plain old public-private partnerships into something active, valuable, impactful, seamless, and in real-time … that can be actioned to improve security,” said Lauren Boas Hayes, senior advisor for technology and innovation at CISA.
Due to CISA’s collaborative nature, Hayes added, the agency is uniquely positioned to be a hub for cybersecurity collaboration and cooperation across the public and private sectors. CISA offers a holistic view of the threat landscape, a space for cyber information sharing, and an array of technological insight.
“CISA is uniquely positioned to help and guide Federal agencies and the private sector to address potential risk factors,” said Hayes. “We protect America by providing a holistic view of the threat landscape.”
CISA gathers a rich cache of data from across the Federal government that they analyze and synthesize to create actionable guidance and products to help organizations understand known risk factors, and find ways to better protect their networks.
“Working with us and sharing information helps to paint a clearer picture so we can spot suspicious activity and act quickly,” Hayes emphasized.
CISA can also bring together stakeholders from across the private sector, international partners, and the Federal government – including the intelligence community, law enforcement, and state and local entities – to enhance cyber threat information sharing with a goal of stopping cyber incidents before they occur, and enabling quick recovery when they do.
This open collaboration enables CISA to help “prevent similar attacks on other organizations, as well as to help organizations minimize the negative impacts on their business,” she said.
Hayes also explained that CISA brings together an array of solutions from across industry to help stakeholders securely adopt new technology – and help determine how adversaries are adopting or utilizing technology developments.
“We know the next decade of technological development will play a critical role in defining our national security posture. Emerging technologies will continue to present new opportunities, but will also come with accompanying risks,” Hayes said. “CISA is uniquely positioned to help and guide Federal agencies and the private sector in addressing these potential risk factors.”
