Elodie Collins
Jen Sovada, public sector general manager at Claroty and a 2024 Wash100 Award winner, has warned that budget and workforce cuts at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency could undermine the nation’s capability to defend critical infrastructure against cyberattacks. In an article she penned for Federal News Network, the seasoned government contracting industry leader said scaling back federal cyber support, often delivered through CISA, could widen the resilience gap between resource-rich and resource-poor regions and weaken government-industry partnerships.
Impact on State, Local, Tribal Organizations
CISA serves as a cyber intelligence resource hub that offers free services, such as vulnerability scanning and technical assessments, to various organizations, including water utilities and rural hospitals. These organizations often have limited budgets and do not employ internal cybersecurity teams, Sovada explained.
If the agency’s capability to provide threat briefings and incident support is diminished, the official pointed out that smaller jurisdictions will have to “fend for themselves — without the technical capabilities or budgets to stand alone.”
She also shared that, with CISA’s workforce down to just a little over a thousand people, the agency’s capability to maintain industry partnerships is negatively affected. According to Sovada, in some cases, critical industry contacts leave joint planning efforts and tabletop exercises without replacement. When private-public partnerships decrease, the time it takes to detect and respond to cyberthreats is affected. The absence of partnerships also lead to a fragmented response to cyberthreats, with some organizations left vulnerable.
Sovada concluded that private-public partnerships in cybersecurity should not be a fallback plan, but are “the only viable path forward.”
