User:Sybear/Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is a standalone United States federal agency, an operational component under Department of Homeland Security (DHS) oversight. CISA is the successor to the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD). CISA was established on November 16, 2018 when President Donald Trump signed into law the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018. Brandon Wales served as Acting Director until Jen Easterly was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on July 12, 2021 and became Director.

Former NPPD Under-Secretary Christopher Krebs was the first CISA's Director. Former NPPD Deputy Under-Secretary Matthew Travis was its first Deputy Director. The expected role of CISA is to improve cybersecurity across all levels of government, coordinate cybersecurity programs with U.S. states, and improve the government's cybersecurity protections against private and nation-state hackers.

History
Formed in 2007, the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) was a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security. NPPD's goal was to advance the Department's national security mission by reducing and eliminating threats to U.S. critical physical and cyber infrastructure.

On November 16, 2018, President Trump signed into law the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018, which elevated the mission of the former NPPD within DHS, establishing the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). CISA is a successor agency to NPPD, and assists both other government agencies and private sector organizations in addressing cybersecurity issues.

On January 22, 2019, CISA issued its first Emergency Directive (19-01: Mitigate DNS Infrastructure Tampering) warning that "an active attacker is targeting government organizations" using DNS spoofing techniques to perform man-in-the-middle attacks. Research group FireEye stated that "initial research suggests the actor or actors responsible have a nexus to Iran."

In 2020, CISA created a website, titled Rumor Control, to rebut disinformation associated with the 2020 United States presidential election. On November 12, 2020, CISA issued a press release asserting, "There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised." On the same day, Director Krebs indicated that he expected to be dismissed from his post by the Trump administration. Krebs was subsequently fired by President Trump on November 17, 2020 via tweet for his comments regarding the security of the election.

Bryan Ware, assistant director at CISA, submitted his resignation on November 12 as well, with reports that his resignation had been requested.

On July 12, 2021, the Senate confirmed Jen Easterly by a Voice Vote, directly after the Senate returned from its July 4th recess. Easterly’s nomination had been reported favorably out of Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on June 16, but a floor vote had been reportedly held by Senator Rick Scott over broader national security concerns, until the President or Vice President had visited the southern border with Mexico.

Role
An October, 2020 review in the Institute for World Politics student journal Active Measures stated that CISA apparently lacks an enforcement division. The Federal Protective Service, which resorted until 2010 under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was moved in May 2019 from CISA to the DHS Management Directorate.

There are five key responsibilities that are assigned to CISA :


 * Securing federal information systems
 * Response actions to protect key critical infrastructure
 * Coordination with partners to include federal, non-federal, and international
 * Act as technical subject matter experts when requested
 * Handle emergency communication plans under policy

Performance
On 17 December 2020, it was revealed that several US agencies had been hit by a massive months-long intrusion by overseas hackers suspected to be from Russia.

Subcomponents
CISA subcomponents include the:


 * Cybersecurity Division
 * Capability Delivery
 * Threat Hunting
 * Operational Collaboration
 * Vulnerability Management
 * Capacity Building
 * Strategy, Resources & Performance
 * Cyber Defense Education & Training
 * Infrastructure Security Division
 * Emergency Communications Division
 * National Risk Management Center
 * Integrated Operations Division
 * Stakeholder Engagement Division
 * Strategic Partnerships
 * Stakeholder Engagement Strategy
 * Stakeholder Relationship Management
 * National Emergency Technology Guard (inactive, but can be activated by the director of CISA)

CISA Logo
CISA's logo was designed specifically to go over its values and mission as the cybersecurity arm of DHS. It was implemented on April 30, 2020. A breakdown of the components is shown below.