The acting head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency faced pointed questions from lawmakers Wednesday over CISA personnel decisions and staffing levels. Members of the House Homeland Security Committee asked Madhu Gottumukkala about a reported attempt to fire the agency’s chief information officer, efforts to push out a large number of staff and whether…
Category: Bennie Thompson
Bennie Thompson, Geopolitics, Global Security News, Government, North America, Policy
Hill warning: Don’t put cyber offense before defense
Amid budding sentiment in the Trump administration and Congress to expand offensive cyber operations, some lawmakers and experts are warning that the United States needs to get its defenses in order before going too far down that road. A House Homeland Security subcommittee on Tuesday examined how to deter foreign cyberattacks, with an emphasis on…
Bennie Thompson, budget, Global Security News, Money, North America, Policy, Workforce
Cyber scholarship-for-service students say government has pulled rug on them, potentially burdening them with debt
A landmark program that offers scholarships in exchange for federal service is threatening to saddle students with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt amid hiring freezes and budget cuts, raising questions about the future of an initiative proponents say has helped close the government’s cyber workforce gap. Some CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service participants…
Andrew Garbarino, Asia Pacific, Bennie Thompson, budget, china, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, Global Security News, Government, Mark Green, Money, regulation, Workforce
DHS won’t tell Congress how many people it’s cut from CISA
The Department of Homeland Security won’t tell Congress how many employees at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency it has fired or pushed to leave, a top congressional Democrat said Wednesday. “You’ve overseen mass reductions in the workforce at CISA and” the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the…
Bennie Thompson, CISA, Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Global Security News, House Homeland Security Committee, Jake Williams, Russia, Threats
DHS says CISA won’t stop looking at Russian cyber threats
The Department of Homeland Security said that its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will continue to pay attention to Russian cyber threats, contrary to media reports suggesting the opposite. The Guardian reported last week that a recent CISA memo setting out priorities for the agency didn’t list Russia among them, while including Chinese threats and…
Bennie Thompson, CISA, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Department of Government Efficency, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Global Security News, grants, House Homeland Security Committee, Mark Green, PIVOTT Act, Policy, Trump Administration, Workforce
Cyber workforce legislation vote gives rise to partisan rift on House Homeland Security Committee
A partisan divide opened Wednesday over a bill to bolster the cyber workforce, legislation that earned unanimous support in the House Homeland Security Committee last year but that Democrats are now wary of under President Donald Trump. Under the legislation, students at technical schools and community colleges would receive scholarships in return for two years…
Bennie Thompson, CISA, crowdstrike, Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), fraud, Global Security News, House Homeland Security Committee, House Intelligence Committee, information sharing, information sharing and analysis centers (ISACs), Internet Security Alliance, Kemba Walden, Mark Green, Mark Warner, Policy, privacy, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Senate Intelligence Committee, SolarWinds
A major cybersecurity law is expiring soon — and advocates are prepping to push Congress for renewal
A push is gearing up to renew an expiring 10-year-old cybersecurity law that was viewed at its initial passage as the most significant cybersecurity legislation Congress had ever passed, and that advocates say now fosters several important threat-sharing initiatives. The 2015 Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act provides safeguards for companies that voluntarily share threat intelligence data…
Bennie Thompson, Department of Government Efficency, Elon Musk, Global Security News, Government, House Homeland Security Committee, Mark Warner, Matthew Vaeth, North America, office of management and budget, Office of Personnel Management (OPM), privacy, Senate Intelligence Committee, Susie Wiles, Treasury Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID
Lawmakers fear Elon Musk, DOGE not adhering to privacy rules
Congress is getting vocal about the privacy and security implications of Elon Musk and his cohorts at the Department of Government Efficiency accessing federal systems. Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee said Wednesday DOGE must comply with security and privacy laws as they obtain access to federal systems, something the lawmakers say they don’t…
Bennie Thompson, china, CISA, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Global Security News, Government, House Homeland Security Committee, Jake Williams, JD Work, Kemba Walden, Kevin Beaumont, Mark Green, National Cyber Director, Paladin, Policy, Salt Typhoon, SentinelOne, telecommunications, Trump Administration
Removal of Cyber Safety Review Board members sparks alarm from cyber pros, key lawmaker
The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee and a number of cyber professionals on Wednesday lamented the Trump administration’s decision to purge a cyber incident investigation board of its membership. But the move had some supporters, including the chairman of that same committee. Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued a…
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Bennie Thompson, Biden administration, CISA, cloud computing, critical infrastructure, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Donald Trump, Emerging Tech, encryption, fraud, Global Security News, Government, House Homeland Security Committee, Joe Biden, Mark Green, National Cyber Director, National Risk Management Center, National Security Council, National Security Council (NSC), Office of the National Cyber Director, operational technology, phishing, quantum computing, supply chain, supply chain security, Trump, Trump Administration
Biden cyber executive order gets mostly plaudits, but its fate is uncertain
A sweeping executive order on cybersecurity released Thursday won largely positive reviews, with the main question being its timing — and what will come of it with the executive branch set to be handed over from president to president. Chris Inglis, the former national cyber director for Joe Biden who has served under both Democrats…