September - 201919GOVERNMENT CIO OUTLOOKs technology and associated threats evolve, cyber-attacks on federal networks are increasing in frequency and sophistication. The Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the federal government's first civilian cybersecurity agency, is responsible for leading federal efforts to protect the nation's critical infrastructure from cyber and physical threats. This requires strong coordination and collaboration among a broad spectrum of government and private sector organizations.CISA has a unique authority under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 to direct federal agencies to take specific action to safeguard federal information and information systems from a known or reasonably suspected cybersecurity threat, vulnerability, or risk. Since 2014, DHS has issued eight Binding Operational Directives (BOD) covering a range of topics, from securing high value assets, to implementing enhanced email and web security capabilities, to removing potentially harmful products from federal networks. While BOD implementation is mandatory only for federal agencies, CISA's directives include common sense guidance and mitigation steps that any organization can utilize to enhance the security and resilience of their networks and systems.CISA's overarching goal is to promote effective cybersecurity and motivate all of our partners and stakeholders to improve the collective health of the cyber ecosystem. Our nation's cyber adversaries are aggressively targeting both public and private networks, so government efforts need to address the risks to both.This public-private partnership was exemplified in January, when industry alerted the government to a sophisticated global Domain Name System (DNS) hijacking campaign. Through rapid coordination, we discovered that CISA LEADS FEDERAL EFFORTS TO PROMOTE BETTER CYBERSECURITY IN PUBLIC, PRIVATE SECTORSMatt Hartman, Director of Federal Network Resilience, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), U.S. Department of Homeland SecurityByCXOINSIGHTSA
< Page 9 | Page 11 >