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The United States’ cyber defenses have been reeling in recent years as hackers associated with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea have penetrated government systems, telecommunications networks and critical infrastructure. If the U.S. were a sci-fi spaceship, “Intruder alert!” would be blaring from the speakers.
At the same time, the Trump administration’s budget cuts have hit the nation’s cybersecurity agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, especially hard. CISA, as it’s known, has lost about a thousand of its 3,200 employees since the administration took office.
Then came the Oct. 1 federal government shutdown. University of Maryland, Baltimore County cybersecurity expert Richard Forno describes what the shutdown means for the agency, how it came to be in this grim situation, and what Congress and the private sector can do to shore up this key pillar of the nation’s cyber defenses.
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The federal cybersecurity agency is crippled by layoffs and shutdown furloughs.
The Conversation
Richard Forno, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
The triple whammy of deep staff cuts, shutdown furloughs and the expiration of an information-sharing law leaves national cybersecurity in a perilous state.
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Health + Medicine
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Shooshan Danagoulian, Wayne State University
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Environment + Energy
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Moones Alamooti, University of North Dakota
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Science + Technology
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Santhosh Girirajan, Penn State
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Economy + Business
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Arts + Culture
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Education
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