The leadership of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) is earnestly anticipating Congressional reauthorization of an impending expiration of legislation that safeguards organizations voluntarily exchanging threat intelligence data with governmental entities or with each other.
The legislation in question, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, was promulgated and ratified by then-President Barack Obama in December 2015. Its expiration is set for September 30, 2025.
At the Black Hat USA 2025 conference on August 7, Christopher Butera, the active executive assistant director at CISA, along with Robert Costello, the agency’s Chief Information Officer, elaborated on the current state of America’s cybersecurity landscape.
Madhu Gottumukkala, the agency’s acting director, was initially scheduled to participate in the event but canceled due to an unforeseen personal matter.
Butera and Costello expressed optimism regarding Congress’s reauthorization of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act ahead of its deadline, indicating a potential extension for several additional years.
“Information becomes outdated at an alarming rate, as adversaries adapt swiftly, which underscores the necessity for rapid information exchange,” Costello remarked.
In an interaction with Infosecurity, Cynthia Kaiser, Senior Vice President at Halcyon and head of the newly established Ransomware Researcher Center, as well as former deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, stated her strong conviction regarding the law’s renewal.
CISA to Sustain Funding for the CVE Program
During the Black Hat conference, Butera and Costello assured attendees that the funding for the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) program, facilitated by MITRE and sponsored by CISA, would remain intact.
“CISA is profoundly committed to this initiative. We will continue to invest in and enhance the CVE program,” Butera asserted.
Costello further emphasized, “The CVE is an extraordinarily effective tool and operates exceptionally well.”
Butera also noted the necessity for automation within the program: “We must embed automation into the ecosystem to expedite remediation. Our transition is moving from a growth phase to a phase centered on quality.”
CISA Officials Address Layoff Anxieties, Emphasizing New Initiatives
In response to inquiries about recent layoffs at CISA, including the reported attrition of a third of its workforce during the Trump administration, Costello remarked that the portrayals of CISA’s decline are significantly overstated.
Quoting Ernest Hemingway, he asserted, “We’re not regressing; we are advancing in a new direction.”
Butera supplemented this by stating, “While we did experience some voluntary separations, we still retain a remarkably talented workforce at CISA.”
The CISA leaders pointed to their collaborative efforts with government agencies and companies to mitigate the ‘ToolShell’ SharePoint vulnerability exploits, describing it as “a prime illustration” of the agency’s enduring capabilities and its collaborative approach with security researchers and the industry.
They also mentioned the recent deployment of Thorium, a new platform for malware and forensic analysis, which was introduced just prior to the Black Hat event.
Butera underscored the recent allocation of $100 million in cyber grant funding for state and local entities, calling it “a crucial instrument” and expressing excitement for its utilization.
Finally, Costello remarked that CISA is “on the verge, within a few months, of launching IT services aimed at simplifying the subscription process for our Cyber Hygiene services.”
Cyber Hygiene (CyHy) represents a service provided by CISA that scans public-facing endpoints for vulnerabilities, with Butera and Costello asserting that the service currently boasts over 11,000 users.
Source link: Infosecurity-magazine.com.
