Federal Government Seeks Comments on Cybersecurity Response Plan

December 23, 2024

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is seeking input on its update to the nation’s plan to respond to cybersecurity emergencies.

This month, the agency published the draft of its strategic framework to better coordinate the response to cyber incidents. The strategic update comes amid another year of high-profile digital attacks that targeted health care and other sectors.

“Today’s increasingly complex threat environment demands that we have a seamless, agile, and effective incident response framework,” said CISA Director Jen Easterly in a statement.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Key focus areas:  Cybersecurity attacks have become increasingly common across sectors.
  • The new plan defines four “lines of effort” to respond to cyber incidents: asset response, threat response, intelligence support, and affected entity response.
• About:  The plan sets a coordinated strategy to respond to cybersecurity attacks and reflects significant policy changes in cybersecurity operations since the original plan was released during 2016.
• By the numbers:  Worldwide, the average annual cost for cybercrime is estimated to grow from $8.4 trillion during 2022 to more than $23 trillion during 2027.
• What to do:  Public comments can be submitted via the Federal Register until January 15, 2025.
• Quotable:  “Today’s geopolitical environment requires the nation be prepared to handle significant cyber incidents that threaten our economy, national security, and public health and safety,” the report notes.

The draft response plan is available online.