WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) announced that following their push, the final omnibus funding package for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 includes at least $38 million for the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, a federally funded cybersecurity resilience program. The funding represents an increase of $11 million over the previous year.
On March 2, the senators had sent a letter to Senate appropriators pushing for a significant increase in cybersecurity funding, given the increased threat to New York State from Russian cyber attacks.
“The crushing sanctions that the U.S. and our allies have leveled against Russia and Putin’s inner circle have increased the risk of retaliatory cyber attacks, particularly against New York State infrastructure and individuals,” said Senator Gillibrand. “It is critical that we boost funding to protect New York State and the country from cyber threats from Russia, which is why Senator Schumer and I pushed for this significant increase in cybersecurity funding. This funding will enable the United States to act quickly to strengthen our cyber defenses to meet potential Russian aggression.”
“Protecting our government, our businesses, critical infrastructure, and our utilities from cyberattack has assumed even greater importance with Putin’s unjustified aggression in Ukraine and recklessly threatening cyberattacks throughout the world,” said Senator Schumer. “That’s why we pushed for and worked to secure increased funding to the Center for Internet Security’s Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) – a New York based national leader in building cybersecurity resilience and coordination between federal, state, and local entities.”
“We stand with Sen. Schumer and Sen. Gillibrand–our home state Senators–in continuing to emphasize the importance of supporting the cybersecurity of our nation’s State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) governments. Our members, over 12,000 SLTT, are an integral part of the whole-of-nation approach to protecting both our critical infrastructure and essential civil services across the country,” said John Gilligan, President & CEO of the Center for Internet Security.
The MS-ISAC program is a successful example of a partnership-based approach to building cybersecurity resilience and coordination between federal, state and local entities. In 2010, DHS designated the MS-ISAC as the focal point for cyber threat prevention, protection, response, and recovery for the nation’s state, local, territorial, and tribal (SLTT) governments as well as Fusion Centers. The MS-ISAC is used by all 56 states and territories and more than 12,500 other local governments to receive up-to-date information on and analysis of cyber threats. Additionally, the Center for Internet Security, which houses the MS-ISAC, also houses the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing & Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), which provides election systems professionals with a full cyber-defense suite of hardware, software, and expertise to fend off the threat of foreign interference.
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