AI, Secure-by-Design, China Among CISA Focus Areas in 2025, Executive Director Says – GovCon Wire

Ever since the 2016 presidential election attracted concerns about foreign influence, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has been a guard to ensure that the process runs fairly, equitably and without interruption. After many public appearances by the group’s leader, Wash100 Award Jen Easterly, who won until November 5, where she assured the nation that the system has never been more active, said the executive director of the organization, Bridget Beanconfirmed on Wednesday that it had been successful.

“I’ve been in government for a long time, and I’ve never seen such collaboration and information sharing in my career. And so, as … Americans, we should feel really good that we’re getting that right,” Bean told the Potomac Officers Club Homeland Security Conference 2024.

The summit was an incredible hit, full of valuable information, insights from Department of Homeland Security leaders and unforgettable networking moments. Don’t miss POC’s last event of the year: the Healthcare Conference 2024which gives partnership opportunities for contractors who want to work with the Department of Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs, among others. Register today for the December 11th event!

At the Homeland Security Conference, Bean revealed the five main target areas for CISA’s work in 2025. We highlighted the selected areas on which Bean was very determined.

1. Minimize Threats Arising from the People’s Republic of China

While acknowledging that countries such as North Korea, Iran and Russia also pose a significant threat to the US, Bean said China “continues to pose the broadest, most active and most sustainable for our government and our critical infrastructure partners.” She said they “have penetrated deep into our critical infrastructure,” not with the intention of wiping menial data but for a far more sinister and brutal purpose: “a cyber attack in the future launch at a time of their choosing in the event of a major conflict in Asia.”

She noted that CISA, through hard work with partners, has been able to eliminate some of the silliness into CI “across multiple departments.” However, she warned against complacency and said the worst is yet to come.

2. Cyber ​​Incident Reporting Development for the Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022

3. Using CISA’s Role as the National Coordinator for Critical Infrastructure Resilience to Improve the Security and Resilience of US Critical Infrastructure

A key part of CISA’s mission to protect CI over the past two years has been to adhere to the principles of secure by design, when a technical product is outfitted with proper security rails right off the shelf, before opening user even the box. While CISA is trying to introduce a “secure revolution by design”, the government cannot do it alone, she said. It is up to technology manufacturers to build the programs correctly and ensure that consumers use their dollars in a meaningful way – and only buy devices with security principles baked into them.

“It is the power of business that will help make the difference and together we will create a stronger and more secure technology ecosystem that protects all of our citizens,” said Bean.

4. Ensuring the Safety, Security and Stability of Artificial Intelligence

Bean said CISA wants to understand how we can innovate and use AI, while also trying to understand how a malicious actor can use it as a weapon.

“AI has the potential to accelerate the speed, scale and sophistication of cyber attacks at a rate we are only beginning to understand,” Bean warned.

But she was also clear about the device’s limitations and that human involvement is still essential.

“AI is not a silver bullet,” continued Bean. “The best use of AI we’ve found for vulnerability detection is to complement existing tools and keep people in the loop. We are therefore actively working with our critical infrastructure owners and operators to advance AI audit identification.”

5. Continue to work with the frontrunners in US Elections

The 2025 schedule is starting to fill up. Check out the full list of Potomac Officers Club events with a GovCon focus and make plans to attend and learn more about your favorite subject area!