CISA Announces New Cyberdefense Initiative Uniting Private, Local and Federal Organizations

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has announced a new initiative named Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) that would allow for a more cohesive cyberdefense response from federal, private and state authorities.

One of the reasons it’s challenging to counteract attacks that affect institutions and private organizations simultaneously is the fragmentation of security. Each entity deals in its own way with cyberattacks, employs different strategies and generally doesn’t interact with other affected organizations. Under JCDC’s umbrella, such collaboration would be much easier and common.

“The JCDC presents an exciting and important opportunity for this agency and our partners – the creation of a unique planning capability to be proactive vice reactive in our collective approach to dealing with the most serious cyber threats to our nation,” said CISA Director Jen Easterly.

“The industry partners that have agreed to work side-by-side with CISA and our interagency teammates share the same commitment to defending our country’s national critical functions from cyber intrusions, and the imagination to spark new solutions. With these extraordinarily capable partners, our initial focus will be on efforts to combat ransomware and developing a planning framework to coordinate incidents affecting cloud service providers,” she added.

JCDC will implement a comprehensive whole-of-nation cyberdefense plan that allows for more coordinated actions in an effort to reduce the impact of intrusions. Most importantly, the new agency will organize joint exercises meant to improve cyber defense operations.

Several high-profile companies have already joined the initiative, including Amazon Web Services, AT&T, Google Cloud, Lumen, Microsoft, Verizon, and others. More are expected to join soon, alongside all the federal partners such as the Department of Defense, US Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.