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“Countries are increasing their use of cyber operations as a projection of national power,” Schumer and Gillibrand wrote.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) recently pushed for a significant increase in cybersecurity funding to help New York State combat the threat of Russian cyber attacks.
Given the increased threat to New York from Russian cyber attacks, Schumer and Gillibrand sent a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee leadership pushing for an significant increase in cybersecurity funding for the Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) program, a successful example of a partnership-based approach to building cybersecurity resilience and coordination between federal, state and local entities. The MS-ISAC program was funded for FY21 at $27.014 million and Schumer and Gillibrand are pushing to increase funding for this program.
In 2010, the Department of Homeland Security designated the MS-ISAC as the focal point for cyber threat prevention, protection, response, and recovery for the nation’s state, local, territorial, and tribal (SLTT) governments as well as Fusion Centers. The MS-ISAC is used by all 56 states and territories and more than 12,500 other local governments to receive up-to-date information on and analysis of cyber threats. Additionally, the Center for Internet Security, which houses the MS-ISAC, also houses the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing & Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), which provides election systems professionals with a full cyber-defense suite of hardware, software, and expertise to fend off the threat of foreign interference.
“[T]he 2021 National Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community outlines that cyber threats from China, Russia, North Korea and Iran will remain acute and, ‘are demonstrably intertwined with threats to our infrastructure and to the foreign malign influence threats against our democracy.’ Countries are increasing their use of cyber operations as a projection of national power,” Schumer and Gillibrand wrote. “This is playing out as part of a Russian hybrid approach in Ukraine, in Iranian attacks on Israeli water sanitation facilities, and China’s focus on compromising telecommunications and other critical infrastructure around the world. In New York, hackers penetrated the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s computer systems as well as the New York Law Department. Cybersecurity and ransomware threats, especially for state, local, territorial, and tribal governments, have been increasing in volume and magnitude for years and they need assistance to combat this threat and this is another area where MS-ISAC can serve well.”
“Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. and our allies have leveled severe sanctions against Russia, which has increased the risk of retaliatory cyber attacks, particularly against New York State infrastructure and individuals,” Gillibrand said. “It is critical that we boost funding to protect New York State and the country from cyber threats from Russia. The United States must act quickly to strengthen our cyber defenses to meet this unwarranted and unprovoked Russian aggression.”
Schumer added, “Protecting our government, our businesses, critical infrastructure, and our utilities from cyberattack has assumed even greater importance with Putin’s unjustified aggression in Ukraine and recklessly threatening cyberattacks throughout the world. That’s why we are pushing for increased funding to the Center for Internet Security’s Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC)—a New York based national leader in building cybersecurity resilience and coordination between federal, state, and local entities.”
