Released this week by U.S. Rep. John Katko (R-NY), ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, a Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) 2025 fact sheet outlined his view of a roadmap for the agency’s growth over the next three years.
Since its founding in 2018, CISA has gained numerous authorities and increased funding for work to shield U.S. critical infrastructure from cyber and physical threats. The fact sheet was Katko’s vision for where to take it in the future, and he specifically marketed it to fellow Republicans.
“As we commemorate Cybersecurity Awareness Month this October, I am proud to announce the CISA 2025 initiative, which will be crucial to ensuring CISA succeeds as the nation’s lead cyber agency,” Katko said. “We must work now to transform the United States into the most cyber-secure nation in the world—CISA 2025 is the path forward to achieve that.”
CISA provides protection oversight for the nation’s federal networks and 16 critical infrastructure sectors. Katko sought to find ways for it to execute its new authorities and funding properly in the future and to actively improve federal and infrastructure cybersecurity. To achieve this, he said that six tenets must be followed:
- Optimize the agency
- Grow an expert cyber workforce with education, training, and career pathways
- Enhance operational visibility through increased coordination and centralization of Federal Civilian Network Security
- Advance cybersecurity capabilities
- Harness partnerships to build relationships between government, private industry, and cyber organizations
- Measure outcomes by identifying performance objectives and metrics for progress and pushing for improvement in cybersecurity
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), known ransomware attacks hit 649 critical infrastructure entities last year alone, and nearly 90 percent of U.S. critical infrastructure sectors crumbled to the attacks. Such attacks have and will cost billions in the future as both nation-states and criminal groups undertake them.
Separately, CISA has also released its strategic plan for 2023-2025, largely based on resilience.