CISA holds cyber roundtables for industry, higher education, healthcare stakeholders

On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Mark Green, M.D. (R-TN) held four cyber roundtables with Jen Easterly, director for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) for industry, higher education and healthcare stakeholders.

The discussion followed hearings by the House Homeland Security Committee’s recent hearings on the cyber workforce shortage and resilience for critical infrastructure. Currently, officials said there is a 500,000 person gap in the cyber workforce. The roundtables also discussed the need for the private-sector to have a security-first mindset for its critical infrastructure.

“Nothing is more important than catalyzing trusted partnerships. So, everybody needs to understand the information we have, the no-cost services, the no-cost training, because we are here to help drive down risk to America,” Easterly said after the roundtables. “There are very real actors out there who want to go after our networks, hold them at risk, and harm Americans.”

The roundtables talked first with higher education stakeholders about the pipeline for cybersecurity professionals, and then with business leaders on how to protect their businesses, Green said. Later the meeting moved to healthcare providers, hospitals and institutions, that are an increasingly bigger target for cyber criminals.

Green and Easterly heard from Vanderbilt University administrators about the future of cybersecurity education, and the need for increased government partnership in teaching cybersecurity literacy. Further discussions involved stakeholders from the automotive, technology, and agricultural sectors talking about the impact of artificial intelligence, and using AI to defend against evolving threats. Healthcare stakeholders discussed the rising threats from ransomware.

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