Feds cut funding to program that shared cyber threat info with local governments

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Tuesday will cut its ties to — and funding for —  the Center for Internet Security, a nonprofit that provides free and low-cost cybersecurity services to state and local governments.

”CISA’s cooperative agreement with the Center for Internet Security (CIS) will reach its planned end on September 30, 2025,” America’s lead cyber-defense agency said in a Monday announcement. “This transition reflects CISA’s mission to strengthen accountability, maximize impact, and empower SLTT [state, local, tribal, and territorial] partners to defend today and secure tomorrow.”

“The Center for Internet Security (CIS) has been informed that the Department of Homeland Security and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have chosen not to renew federal funding that for the past 20 years has supported the MS-ISAC’s highly effective work to increase the security resilience for state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) organizations,” John Gilligan, president and CEO of CIS, told The Register of the funding, which his org pegged at $27 million a year. “The MS-ISAC, operated by CIS, has been this nation’s most successful public-private partnership. While we are disappointed by this decision, as a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, CIS remains committed to the SLTT community. The new fee-based membership model for the MS-ISAC will permit it to continue to deliver high-impact cybersecurity services including threat intelligence in a variety of forms and formats, best practices and collaboration opportunities, and effective monitoring, blocking, and response to cyber attacks.”