CISA’s CSET Tool Sets Sights on Ransomware Threat

CISA has released a new module in its Cyber Security Evaluation Tool (CSET): the Ransomware Readiness Assessment (RRA). CSET is a desktop software tool that guides network defenders through a step-by-step process to evaluate their cybersecurity practices on their networks. CSET—applicable to both information technology (IT) and industrial control system (ICS) networks—enables users to perform a comprehensive evaluation of their cybersecurity posture using many recognized government and industry standards and recommendations.

The RRA is a self-assessment based on a tiered set of practices to help organizations better assess how well they are equipped to defend and recover from a ransomware incident. CISA has tailored the RRA to varying levels of ransomware threat readiness to make it useful to all organizations regardless of their current cybersecurity maturity. The RRA:

• Helps organizations evaluate their cybersecurity posture, with respect to ransomware, against recognized standards and best practice recommendations in a systematic, disciplined, and repeatable manner.
• Guides asset owners and operators through a systematic process to evaluate their operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) network security practices against the ransomware threat.
• Provides an analysis dashboard with graphs and tables that present the assessment results in both summary and detailed form.

CISA strongly encourages all organizations to take the CSET Ransomware Readiness Assessment, available at https://github.com/cisagov/cset/releases/tag/v10.3.0.0.