Cybersecurity in infrastructure
Introduction
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency ([note 1] abbreviated CISA) is a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responsible for cybersecurity and infrastructure protection at all levels of government.
While its ostensible objective is to coordinate cybersecurity programs with states and improve the government's level of cybersecurity against cybercriminals in a private capacity or in the service of another country,[1] it has actually censored the public, pressuring social networks to block comments that its MDM office considered inappropriate (MDM is false, dis-, and bad information, for its acronym in English).[2][3][4].
The agency began operating in 2007 as the National Protection and Program Directorate of DHS.[1][5] With the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018, the agency added functions of census and election protection, management of national special security events (National Special Security Events, NSSE) and the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also participated in 5G network security and in the stronghold of the US network against electromagnetic pulses.[6] CISA's Office of Bomb Prevention leads the national anti-IED effort.[7].
Although its current headquarters are in Arlington, Virginia, by 2025, CISA intends to move its headquarters and 6,500 employees to a new 10-story, 620,000-square-foot (5.76 ha) building at the DHS Consolidated Headquarters, located on the St. Elizabeths Campus, in Washington, D.C.[8].
History
The National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) was formed in 2007 as a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS).[9] The goal of the NPPD was to advance the Department's national security mission by reducing and eliminating threats to critical physical and cyber infrastructure for the country.
On November 16, 2018, President Trump signed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act, which elevated NPPD's mission within DHS, establishing the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).[10] CISA is the successor agency to NPPD, assisting other government agencies and private sector organizations in addressing cybersecurity issues.[11] The Former NPPD Undersecretary Christopher Krebs was the first director of CISA, and former Deputy Undersecretary Matthew Travis") was its first deputy director.[12][13].