Category Archives: csis

CISA’s advisory panel is announced, set to make recommendations on major cyber topics

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The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Wednesday named members to a new cyber advisory panel that will make recommendations on subjects ranging from battling misinformation to gaining aid from the hacker community on national cyber defense. Among the 23 members selected are leaders from social media, cybersecurity companies, major technology firms and critical infrastructure sectors such as finance and energy. It includes officials from Johnson & Johnson and Walmart, as well as a longtime cybersecurity journalist and the mayor of Austin, Texas. “We’re at a pivotal moment in our history — one that demands we think anew about ensuring the security and resilience of our digital infrastructure in the face of increasingly sophisticated cyber threats,” said CISA Director Jen Easterly, whose agency is a part of the Department of Homeland Security. “I look forward to partnering with these distinguished leaders from across industry, academia, and government to tackle some […]

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CISA starts identifying targets most necessary to protect from hacking

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The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has begun working to map out the U.S. critical infrastructure that, if hacked, could result in serious consequences for national security and economic interests, CISA Director Jen Easterly said Friday. Labeling such infrastructure is the subject of a proposal of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, a congressional committee, which recommended identifying “systemically important critical infrastructure,” or SICI. Lawmakers have introduced SICI legislation in recent months, but Easterly said her Department of Homeland Security agency is proceeding ahead with or without a bill. “Notwithstanding whether this ends up in legislation or not, and I certainly hope it does, we are already thinking through the model,” she said at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We’re in a state now where a critical infrastructure is much more vulnerable than it should be. And frankly, that’s what I worry about most every day.” […]

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SolarWinds CEO talks hack, remaining questions before Capitol Hill hearings

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The chief executive of SolarWinds on Monday said his company is still seeking a fuller understanding of the scope of the hack on its Orion software — and laying the groundwork for what SolarWinds, as well as the federal government, should be doing next. “What we are… still learning is the breadth and depth of the sophistication of the attackers, number one,” Sudhakar Ramakrishna said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies online event where he noted that the company’s investigation into what happened is ongoing. “Number two is the patience with which they carried out these attacks, and obviously the persistence,” he said, citing as an example that the hackers appeared to use earlier versions of Orion code as a test bed for their eventual attack. Ramakrishna took over as CEO weeks after news about the hack of SolarWinds’ updates to its Orion software had become public. The […]

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Congress is starting to move on more cyber bills, even if few become law

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Congress dramatically ratcheted up the number of cybersecurity bills introduced in the last two years compared to the prior session of Congress, but that didn’t equate to much more of it becoming law, according to a think tank study out today. And while cybersecurity legislation remained a relative oasis of bipartisanship, that tendency sharply dropped off when it came to election security, found the tally from Third Way — which CyberScoop is first reporting. The findings offer potential insights into how the issue is evolving, and where it might go next, even if the trends don’t lend themselves to a simple explanation. In all, lawmakers introduced 316 cybersecurity bills in the 116th Congress that ran from 2019 to 2020, a 40% increase from the 115th Congress. That continues a trend that took off in that session of Congress: The 114th Congress saw just 22 cybersecurity measures offered, the center-left think […]

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As FireEye grapples with breach investigation, questions remain

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FireEye’s announcement this week that hackers breached its systems has sent shockwaves through the cybersecurity community, raising new questions about how one of the most influential security firms in the U.S. grappled with an apparently state-sponsored attack. It also has triggered policy discussions about whether the U.S. government should do more to protect cyber industry titans like FireEye, one of the top cybersecurity firms in the world with customers that counts Fortune 500 companies among its clients. The hack adds FireEye to the list of cybersecurity companies that have experienced their own breaches, a roster stretching back to at least the beginning of the last decade. “This news has rocked the cybersecurity industry to our core, unlike anything since the RSA hack” from 2011, said Tom Bossert, president of Trinity Cyber and the former homeland security adviser to President Donald Trump. “It’s a pretty big deal.” FireEye revealed on Tuesday […]

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Want to reduce cybercrime? Undermine black market, watch cryptocurrency exchanges, experts say

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The neverending stream of high-profile, large scale data breaches has lawmakers searching for answers on how hackers are benefiting and how to stop them. At a hearing Thursday, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance heard from experts about how to find and crack down on cybercriminals who are swiping and trading massive amounts of individuals’ compromised private information. “The victim of a breach can become a victim repeatedly as their identity can be used to apply for credit cards, mortgages, and other financial products over and over again,” subcommittee Chairman Steve Pearce, R-N.M., said. “Unfortunately, this activity is only becoming more widespread as criminal organizations realize the low cost of entry, the ease of using hacking tools, and the difficulty law enforcement faces trying to apprehend hackers.” Lillian Ablon, an information scientist at the RAND Corporation, explained some ways law enforcement can crack down on black markets for stolen […]

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Russian Embassy spokesperson confronts FBI, DHS officials in public event

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A Russian Embassy spokesperson challenged two senior U.S. officials Wednesday during a public event in D.C. about why the Trump administration refuses to collaborate with Russia to fight cybercrime.  The exchange happened at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) focused on a new report published Wednesday by the think tank and cybersecurity company McAfee. The report speaks to the economic impact of cybercrime.  Along with other countries, Russia was specifically named multiple times in both the report and panel discussion as a “state sanctuary” of cybercrime due to the “close relationship between the Russian state and Russian organized crime.” That accusation didn’t sit right with one Russian government employee in the crowd. “Once again without any proof, Russia was called a bad actor in cyberspace,” said Petr Svirin, the Russian Embassy’s first secretary during a question and answer session. “If you are so concerned, why the government […]

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Report: cybercrime causes over $600 billion in damages annually

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Cybercrime and espionage have caused over $600 billion worth of damages annually in recent years, according to new estimates from the Washington D.C. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and American cybersecurity firm McAfee. “When we talk about impact of cybercrime, really it’s an economic impact with significant ramifications toward things like jobs, opportunity, investment, innovation,” said Raj Samani, McAfee’s chief scientist. “The objective is to change the discussion from this-country-does-that to how cybercrime impacts all of us, why it matters and how to address it.” The total cost is rising. A 2014 estimate from CSIS put the annual cost of hacking at around $500 billion. Increasingly sophisticated hackers, quick adoption of new technology as well as the growing professionalization of cybercrime has made being a profitable crook online easier than it’s ever been. Even so, cybercrime ranks behind government corruption and narcotics trafficking for annual cost to the world, according […]

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Bossert promises funding, centralization for federal cybersecurity

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President Donald Trump’s budget outline, slated for release Thursday, will propose significant increases in funding for federal cybersecurity, White House homeland security adviser Thomas Bossert said Wednesday. “President Trump intends to put his money where his mouth is,” Bossert said in his his first major policy speech. “Cybersecurity will be funded through DHS and the Department of Defense,” he told the Center for Strategic and International Studies in a keynote address at its Cyber Disrupt 2017 event. Privately, he told a small group prior to his remarks that there would be a “significant plus up” for cyber programs in both DHS and the Pentagon, one of the organizers told CyberScoop. Bossert also promised that the Obama administration’s push to modernize and centralize federal computer networks will continue under Trump. “Federal networks at this point can no longer sustain themselves. We cannot tolerate indefensible technology, outdated antiquated hardware and software,” Bossert said. “Modernization […]

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