The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has officially unveiled the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), a new effort to combat ransomware attacks by expanding info sharing between the public and private sectors, with Amazon, Google and Microsoft all signing onto the initiative.
The JCDC was established to develop comprehensive cyber defense strategies while sharing insights between the federal government and its partners on cyber intrusions and defense operations, according to CISA Director Jen Easterly, who outlined the collaboration at Thursday’s Black Hat cybersecurity conference.
“The industry partners that have agreed to work side-by-side with CISA and our interagency teammates share the same commitment to defending our country’s national critical functions from cyber intrusions, and the imagination to spark new solutions,” CISA Director Jen Easterly said.
“With these extraordinarily capable partners, our initial focus will be on efforts to combat ransomware and developing a planning framework to coordinate incidents affecting cloud service providers.”
The first industry partners to joint the JCDC include Microsoft, Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, AT&T, Crowdstrike, FireEye Mandiant, Lumen, Palo Alto Networks, and Verizon, with plans to expand with more private sector and SLTT partners from across sectors.
— Jen Easterly (@CISAJen) August 5, 2021
“In recent months, various major cyber incidents have had an impact on our critical infrastructure community and caused downstream consequences to Americans that rely on it for everyday functions,” CISA said today, after announcing JCDC’s formation.
“As a community, the JCDC will deploy innovation, collaboration, and imagination to protect American businesses, government agencies, and our people against cyber intrusions.”
