New CISA zero trust office to help combat cyber threats

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has introduced a new strategic approach for 2024 called the Federal Enterprise Operations Cyber Alignment Plan. Here are the key points:

1. Purpose: The plan aims to bring federal agencies together to collaborate, compare notes on recent cyber incidents, and align behind a common path forward. It focuses on enhancing cybersecurity operations, especially for analysts in their security operations centers.

2. Strategic Outlook: CISA convened all federal agencies to discuss the cybersecurity threat landscape and experiences from 2023. The goal was to create an operational alignment plan for 2024. This plan considers challenges, major incidents, and issues faced by the community.

3. Binding Operational Directives (BODs): CISA has issued a suite of BODs, covering everything from known exploited vulnerabilities to network management interfaces. This shift in approach enhances cybersecurity defense operations across the federal enterprise.

4. Collaboration and Commitments: CISA is committed to working collaboratively with state and local governments, election officials, and federal partners. Initiatives like the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) dashboard and Secure Cloud Business Application (SCuBA) are priorities.

5. Concept of Alignment: The plan emphasizes alignment across the federal government. CISA designed an operational cyber enterprise plan, incorporating feedback from chief information security officers (CISOs) and agency teams.

CISA’s new plan fosters collaboration, leverages innovative technologies, and adopts a zero-trust model to create a more secure and resilient digital infrastructure for the United States. (Click here to learn more.)