The US government has revealed it is introducing a new cyber defence center focused on strengthening collaboration between the public and private sector.
According to Cyberscoop, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Jen Easterly said the new facility will seek to ‘foster collaboration before cyberattacks rather than afterward’ between federal agencies, the private sector and state and local governments.
Easterly also remarked that the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) would look to enhance teamwork that only normally happens after a major incident.
She said, “While some of this work is happening in pockets, most of it is reactive. The unique value add of the JCDC is to create a proactive capability for government and private sector to work together closely before an incident occurs to strengthen the connective tissue and ensure a common understanding of processes.”
The job of the JCDC will be to look forward with tasks like developing comprehensive cyber defence plans and joint exercises, Easterly claims.
She added, “We all know that phrases like ‘public-private partnership’ and ‘info-sharing’ have become hackneyed bumper stickers. My goal is to ensure that new life is breathed into them, to turn public-private partnership into public-private operational collaboration, and information sharing into something that is always timely, relevant, and most importantly, actionable — able to be used by a network defender to help increase the security and resilience of their networks.”
Companies such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Lumen, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, Verizon and AT&T have already signed on to help build the center.
The cyber defence center is the latest initiative that has arisen from the bipartisan Cyberspace Solarium Commission.
Earlier this week, US national cyber director Chris Inglis endorsed a plan for the creation of a bureau of cyber statistics which will collect and analyse threat data.
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