Guardian Digital Perspective on CISA Cybersecurity Strategies for 2023-2025

In September 2023, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a strategic plan that covers 2023 to 2025 and outlines four goals to guide the organization as it continues to grow and push America into a higher level of cybersecurity. CISA aims to "spearhead the national effort to ensure the defense and resilience of cyberspace," help partners protect critical infrastructure, and support more vital "whole-of-nation operational collaboration and information sharing." This article will discuss the four goals in greater detail so that you can appropriately use these cyber threat protection tips to prevent successful attacks.

CISA claims that cybercriminals’ threats will grow in the upcoming years, establishing themselves as the new normal. Threat actors threaten every branch of business and personal life globally, and the increase in tactics makes cyber threat protection all the more vital. The Russian invasion of Ukraine enacted the "Shields Up" warning from the CISA, an announcement that Ukraine would be more vigilant against possible cyber threats from Russia during the war. Just months later, the director of the CISA said this should be the baseline for future protection. This is unified by the CISA's new four critical points in creating a better-protected digital space and reinforcing partnerships. 

What Are CISA's Four Key Points?

The four key points of CISA's strategic plan are as follows:

• The CISA will push for a national effort of defense against cyberattacks. By providing more effort and funding, CISA can mitigate email threats and other attacks on critical operations of the United States. 
• The rest of America's infrastructure will get support. The national effort will identify critical cyber and email security risks to infrastructure, determine why they are vulnerable, and take action to reduce possible threats. The CISA is essentially offering its services not only to protect themselves but other companies as well. 
• The CISA will continue to build stronger relationships between the government, multiple industries, schools, and overseas partners, covering cyber and physical infrastructure and sharing cyber threat protection responsibility with others. 
• Lastly, they claim to unify the CISA by building a core structure of values and principles to encourage transparency and cost-efficiency.

These key points will strengthen smaller organizations and streamline the cyber and email security process for all companies. The CISA’s core values – collaboration, innovation, service, and accountability – shine within these points and paint the path to their plans. The CISA has a mission to lead a national effort to reduce cyber/physical infrastructure risk while delivering exceptional collaboration to maintain an excellent economy and ensure citizens are safe.

Keep Learning About Cyber Threat Protection

It is essential to understand the threats against which the CISA is protecting. Over 90% of common attacks initiated via email include phishing email attacks, Business Email Compromise (BEC), malware, and ransomware. Phishing is the most prevalent type of email threat in which cybercriminals pretend to be trusted personnel to confuse and steal information from a victim. Business Email Compromise attacks are similar but internal to a company. These phishing email attacks present themselves as higher-ups in a company trying to bait an employee into giving access to a server or system. Malware attacks can encrypt or delete sensitive data from a computer and hijack systems. These are brutal attacks that leave systems very vulnerable. Ransomware attacks will block access to essential files until a fee is paid. Once a fee is paid, the files are either partially returned or obliterated. 

By learning more about these threat types and the best practices to keep them safe, anyone can protect themselves and their business from these attacks. 

• Learn more about protecting your business from ransomware.
• Keeping the integrity of your email safe requires securing the cloud with spam filtering and enterprise-grade anti-spam services.
• Get the latest updates on how to stay safe online.