CISA Aims to Speed Up Its Cybersecurity Support Program for Federal Agencies

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is reworking its Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program, which provides cybersecurity tools to federal agencies, to make it faster and more effective. Speaking at a recent industry event, acting branch chief Richard Grabowski said the program's current pace of collaboration is not fast enough to handle emerging threats, and that responsible automation is needed so security experts can focus on genuine risks rather than repetitive alerts.

Grabowski outlined three goals for CDM: speed, unification of data across agencies, and data-driven risk management so agencies can respond quickly and accurately during major incidents. One key initiative is the program's Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) as a Service offering, which has a three-year roadmap for expansion, including additional staffing and training.

Mike Duffy, the acting federal chief information security officer, added that future improvements should focus on combining demand across agencies with similar needs and on 'buying outcomes, not products', allowing the private sector more room to innovate while meeting clearly defined security goals.