Blog Viewer

On Tuesday, January 18, 2022, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) distributed a bulletin with immediate recommended cyber safety measures for all organizations, especially critical infrastructure stakeholders, as threats loom from abroad.

CISA Insights: “Implement Cybersecurity Measures Now to Protect Against Potential Critical Threats” outlines a number of near-term, urgent steps that should be taken to harden systems against cyber threats. The CISA Insights release is a direct follow up to a recent comprehensive communication from top national security officials concerning Russian cyber threats to U.S. critical infrastructure, in which the cybersecurity community was urged to take proactive actions to mitigate threats. Historical targets have ranged from networks, to common IT software and hardware, to infrastructure industrial control systems and operational technology. This immediate danger follows cyber incidents which have impacted organizations of all sizes.

The agency’s goal with its Insights is to drive immediate action. The release emphasizes actions that most critical infrastructure operators should deploy in the next four weeks.

The CISA Insights release contains a checklist of actions CISA urges organizations of all sizes to take immediately, which fall into four categories: 

• Reduce the likelihood of a damaging cyber intrusion.  
• Take steps to quickly detect a potential intrusion.  
• Ensure that the organization is prepared to respond if an intrusion occurs.  
• Maximize the organization's resilience to a destructive cyber incident.  

CISA is calling on all organizations to report incidents and anomalous activity to the agency, to a local Federal Bureau of Investigation field office or the FBI’s 24/7 CyWatch at (855) 292-3937 or CyWatch@fbi.gov. 

For more information, visit CISA’s Russia Cyber Threat Overview and Advisories webpage for more information on Russian state-sponsored malicious cyber activity. 

CSDA members may wish to sign up for CISA's free cyber hygiene services (Cyber Hygiene Services | CISA), or CISA’s mailing lists and feeds (Mailing Lists and Feeds | CISA).