DHS launches Cyber Safety Review Board

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently launched Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), maintaining it would unite government and industry leaders to bolster cybersecurity.

Authorities indicated the CSRB was formed in accordance with President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14028 on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity.

The body’s first report is slated to be delivered this summer, focusing on vulnerabilities discovered in late 2021 in the widely used log4j software library.

“The Biden-Harris Administration has taken bold steps to meaningfully improve our cybersecurity resilience,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas said. “At the President’s direction, DHS is establishing the Cyber Safety Review Board to thoroughly assess past events, ask the hard questions and drive improvements across the private and public sectors. I look forward to reviewing the Board’s recommendations regarding how we can better protect communities across our country as DHS works to build a more secure digital future.”

The panel is made up of 15 cybersecurity leaders from the federal government and the private sector, officials noted, adding it would be responsible for reviewing and assessing significant cybersecurity events as a means of aiding government, industry, and the broader security community in enhancing the protection of the nation’s networks and infrastructure.

Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, praised the “proactive step” in investigating, understanding, and learning from cyber incidents and log4j vulnerabilities, specifically.

“The Cyber Safety Review Board is an innovative, public-private approach to tackling one of our nation’s most pressing cyber challenges: the federal government lacks the visibility it needs in order to understand the causes and consequences of cyber incidents and make meaningful recommendations to help network defenders prevent future attacks,” Thompson said.