By Justin Katz
Apr 21, 2021
Senate lawmakers on Wednesday continued to press Army Gen. Paul Nakasone for solutions that might prevent another massive cybersecurity intrusion into federal networks, but the director of the National Security Agency and head of U.S. Cyber Command insisted the answer cannot be boiled down to a single authority or investment.
“Senator, I’m not seeking legal authorities either for NSA or for U.S. Cyber Command,” Nakasone told Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) during a hearing with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Nakasone was testifying along with several other intelligence agency chiefs about the IC’s new worldwide threat assessment report, which, among other things, notes that all of the United States’ primary adversaries are ramping up their activities and capabilities in cyberspace.
The White House announced a range of sanctions against Russia, and security agencies warned of software vulnerabilities that Russian intelligence services are actively exploiting.
By Justin Katz
The White House on Tuesday announced the first pilot program to improve the cybersecurity of the nation s electricity infrastructure as part of a broader initiative focused on industrial control systems. The 100-day plan includes aggressive but achievable milestones and will assist owners and operators as they modernize cybersecurity defenses, including enhancing detection, mitigation and forensic capabilities, according to an April 20 statement from Emily Horne, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council.
The pilot is being managed by the Department of Energy and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology, has previously discussed the public-private partnership effort which is being launched around the same time the administration is expected to publish a wide-ranging executive order also focused on cybersecurity.
Anne Neuberger briefs the White House press corps on Feb. 17, 2021
The White House is standing down the two interagency groups tasked with managing the government s response to the cybersecurity incidents involving SolarWinds and Microsoft Exchange, citing improving trends in patching. Due to the vastly increased patching and reduction in victims, we are standing down the current UCG surge efforts and will be handling further responses through standard incident management procedures, according to an April 19 statement from Anne Neuberger, deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology.
The Unified Coordination Groups, established through a 2016 presidential directive, were stood up shortly after each incident was discovered. They brought together the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to manage the government s response efforts.
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