INTERNET SECURITY ALLIANCE HIGHLIGHTS FOR MAY 2023

June 2, 2023

  • ISA meets with White House Cybersecurity Director’s staff to present cost benefit analysis of ISA’s proposed establishment of a national, virtual cybersecurity academy. ISA had presented the core idea for a virtual academy to help resolve the federal government’s 35,000-person cyber workforce gap at a White House Summit in 2022.  At its spring 2023 meeting the ISA board appointed a board level committee consisting of Nick Sanna (RiskLens), Lisa Humbert (US Bank), Ted Webster (Centene), and John Dunn GE Medical) to do a basic cost-benefit analysis.  The Committee report presented to the White House indicated that for a wide verity of reasons (including the replacement of independent contractors with trained academy – but lower priced — graduates the virtual academy proposal would make the proposal at least revenue neutral but potentially revenue positive by saving the government more money that it would take to run the academy.
  • House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green texted his hand-written notes for internal meetings outlining his interests in supporting the virtual academy proposal.  ISA provided the Chairman with the cost benefit analysis it had presented to the White House.  ISA maintains direct contact with the Chairman on this issue.
  • ISA is invited to a private meeting of the Chairs of all the House of Representatives Subcommittee Chairs to discuss how the Congress needs to be reorganized to better process cybersecurity policy. The meeting is a called by Homeland Chairman Green based on analysis provided in ISA’s recent book Fixing American Cybersecurity.  At his request, ISA is providing copies of Fixing American Cybersecurity to Chairman Green who intends to personally distribute them to his colleagues at this meeting.
  • DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) invites ISA as the first briefer at CISA’s new Committee on Corporate Responsibility.  As previously reported in Politico ISA had been working with CISA Chief of Staff Kiersten Todt on the creation of this committee as a mechanism for promoting use of the NACD-ISA handbook with CISA has endorsed and in which CISA Director Jen Easterly wrote the Forward. ISA laid out a detailed plan for how government could assist industry in more responsible cyber investment through an incentives program such as that being suggested in President Biden’s new national strategy for cybersecurity.
  • DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Resilient Investment Planning and Development Working Group (RIPDWG) issued its annual report on R&D Needs and Strategic Actions which identifies the ISA proposal to work with Nobel winner Oliver Hart (Prysm group) to develop the first economics model for cybersecurity as needed to fill a critical gap in assuring the resilience of our nation’s critical infrastructure.
  • ISA Provides the opening Keynote address for the annual meeting of annual meeting of the Association of Chief Investment Officers (CIOs) held at the Harvard Club in New York City.  The presentation requested by the CIO’s is suggestive of their community’s growing interest in cyber risk investment.
  • Microsoft joins the ISA board.
  • Kyndryl joins the ISA board.