Funding cuts implemented by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) and the Elections Infrastructure ISAC (EI-ISAC) managed by the Center for Internet Security (CIS) have prompted concern among current and former government officials.
Those who expressed concern about the cuts believe the information sharing organizations fill an important role in maintaining IT and election systems' cybersecurity defenses, reports StateScoop.
While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) justified the reduced spending by emphasizing MS-ISAC's redundancies, such services have been an essential aid for state and local governments seeking to bolster cybersecurity, according to Mark Raymond, chief information officer for the state of Connecticut. Raymond also noted the lack of new CISA resources meant to support local governments.
Meanwhile, other officials have regarded the loss of federal support to EI-ISAC to be significantly detrimental to U.S. election security.
"Election security is genuinely a race without a finish line and our adversaries are not sitting around eating bon-bons," said Kathy Boockvar, former secretary of Pennsylvania. "Our adversaries — both foreign adversaries like Russia, China and Iran, and also domestic terrorists — are continually inventing and executing new and different ways to try to infiltrate our systems."
