Dive Brief:

• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Tuesday unveiled its first-ever international strategic plan, which will serve as a road map for how the federal agency will work with numerous global partners to combat malicious threat activity. 
• The plan is designed to advance existing work to boost the resilience of critical infrastructure, increase the security of global supply chains and raise intel sharing and coordination with international cyber authorities and other key partners. 
• The work at CISA to boost international cooperation is part of a larger strategy by the Biden administration to enhance international cooperation toward a more secure global ecosystem. U.S. law enforcement authorities, the State Department and various intelligence agencies have worked closely with international partners to coordinate cyber protection strategies.

Dive Insight:

CISA has worked closely with international cyber authorities and other organizations to address key security threats in its effort to create more resilient digital ecosystems across the globe. 

U.S. critical infrastructure is highly dependent on a resilient supply chain, which requires computer networks, logistics and communications to be fully integrated and operational. 

CISA has worked with partner agencies in Australia, Ukraine and other nations to help enhance intelligence sharing on global threats and security vulnerabilities. 

In August, the U.S. and Australia led an international push to adopt event logging policies, designed to combat threats from Volt Typhoon and other actors that use living-off-the-land techniques.

CISA has also worked to raise international security standards to make sure the U.S. wasn’t dependent on software, computer parts or other goods that could pose a long-term risk to national security. CISA in June convened its first annual Information and Communications Technology Supply Chain Risk Management Task Force conference. 

CISA officials are hoping the international strategy will accelerate a push to raise global security standards so that all partner agencies are working on the same call sheet in their respective countries.

“International partnerships and collaboration are essential for combating global cybercrime,” Annie Fixler, director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said via email. “Criminal operations and the network infrastructure they use is global, and so our efforts to thwart and punish cybercriminals must also be a global endeavor, requiring deep and constant collaboration with partners and allies.”

CISA ramped up its international partnership efforts leading up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as concerns grew about state-linked threats to critical infrastructure in the U.S. and NATO countries. 

In 2023, CISA worked with 17 domestic and international agencies to advocate secure by design adoption by manufacturers across the globe. More than 230 companies across the globe have pledged to support secure by design principles, but CISA says support from authorities in their respective countries is necessary to gain widespread adoption.  

The work at CISA to boost international cooperation is part of a larger strategy by the Biden administration to enhance international cooperation towards a more secure global ecosystem.

The U.S. recently convened the fourth annual Counter Ransomware Summit in Washington in an attempt to reach global consensus on steps to deter ransomware payments. 

The State Department has also ramped up efforts in recent months to counter nation-state activity and raise regional security standards by strengthening ties with allies in Asia-Pacific.