Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is a standalone United States federal agency, an operational component under Department of Homeland Security (DHS) oversight. Its activities are a continuation of the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD). CISA was established on November 16, 2018 when President Donald Trump signed into law the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018.
Former NPPD Under-Secretary Christopher Krebs was CISA's first Director, and former Deputy Under-Secretary Matthew Travis was its first Deputy Director. The expected role of CISA is to improve cybersecurity across all levels of government, coordinate cybersecurity programs with U.S. states, and improve the government's cybersecurity protections against private and nation-state hackers.
History.
Formed in 2007, the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) was a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security. NPPD's goal was to advance the Department's national security mission by reducing and eliminating threats to U.S. critical physical and cyber infrastructure.
On November 16, 2018, President Trump signed into law the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018, which elevated the mission of the former NPPD within DHS, establishing the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). CISA is a successor agency to NPPD, and assists both other government agencies and private sector organizations in addressing cybersecurity issues.
On January 22, 2019, CISA issued its first Emergency Directive (19-01: Mitigate DNS Infrastructure Tampering) warning that "an active attacker is targeting government organizations" using DNS spoofing techniques to perform man-in-the-middle attacks. Research group FireEye stated that "initial research suggests the actor or actors responsible have a nexus to Iran."
In 2020, CISA created a website, titled "Rumor Control", to rebut disinformation associated with the 2020 United States presidential election. On November 12, 2020, CISA issued a press release asserting, "There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised." On the same day, Director Krebs indicated that he expected to be dismissed from his post by the Trump administration. Krebs was subsequently fired by President Trump on November 17, 2020 via tweet for his comments regarding the security of the election.
Bryan Ware, assistant director at CISA, submitted his resignation on November 12 as well, with reports that his resignation had been requested.
Role.
An October, 2020 review in the Institute for World Politics student journal "Active Measures" stated that CISA apparently lacks an enforcement division. The Federal Protective Service, which resorted until 2010 under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was moved in May 2019 from CISA to the DHS Management Directorate.
Performance.
On 17 December 2020, it was revealed that several US agencies had been hit by a massive months-long intrusion by overseas hackers suspected to be from Russia.
Subcomponents.
CISA subcomponents include the: