CISA Launches New Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative

WASHINGTON – The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced the standup of the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) today, a new agency effort to lead the development of cyber defense operations plans, and to execute those plans in coordination with partners from the federal interagency, private sector, and state, local, tribal, territorial (SLTT) government stakeholders to drive down risk before an incident and to unify defensive actions should an incident occur.

CISA is establishing the JCDC to integrate unique cyber capabilities across multiple federal agencies, many state and local governments, and countless private sector entities to achieve shared objectives. Specifically, the JCDC will:

• Design and implement comprehensive, whole-of-nation cyber defense plans to address risks and facilitate coordinated action;
• Share insight to shape joint understanding of challenges and opportunities for cyber defense;
• Implement coordinated defensive cyber operations to prevent and reduce impacts of cyber intrusions; and
• Support joint exercises to improve cyber defense operations.

“The JCDC presents an exciting and important opportunity for this agency and our partners – the creation of a unique planning capability to be proactive vice reactive in our collective approach to dealing with the most serious cyber threats to our nation,” said CISA Director Jen Easterly. “The industry partners that have agreed to work side-by-side with CISA and our interagency teammates share the same commitment to defending our country’s national critical functions from cyber intrusions, and the imagination to spark new solutions. With these extraordinarily capable partners, our initial focus will be on efforts to combat ransomware and developing a planning framework to coordinate incidents affecting cloud service providers.”

The initial industry partners that are participating in the JCDC include Amazon Web Services, AT&T, CrowdStrike, FireEye Mandiant, Google Cloud, Lumen, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, and Verizon.  This is only the beginning, as the JCDC will strive to include private sector and SLTT partners from across sectors as our focus areas expand.  Government partners include the Department of Defense, U.S. Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, with Sector Risk Management Agencies joining the effort as we move forward.

In recent months, various major cyber incidents have had an impact on our critical infrastructure community and caused downstream consequences to Americans that rely on it for everyday functions. The federal government, SLTT governments, and the private sector work tirelessly to strengthen our defensive posture, but none of us can do it alone. As a community, the JCDC will deploy innovation, collaboration, and imagination to protect American businesses, government agencies, and our people against cyber intrusions.

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