US cyber defenses threatened by government shutdown

The U.S. could be increasingly vulnerable to cybersecurity threats amid a government shutdown following the failure of Congress to pass appropriations legislation that would extend the 2015 Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act beyond Sept. 30 and ensure continued funding for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, reports Nextgov/FCW.

While the House Appropriations Committee approved a bill that would defer the expiration of the 2015 CISA until Nov. 21, the Senate rejected a continuing resolution, a move that cybersecurity experts noted would be detrimental to information-sharing between the public and private sectors.

"Something has to be put in place to enable that collaboration, or you're potentially going to see an impact on information sharing, which collectively hurts us from better understanding what's happening in the cyberspace domain," said PwC U.S. Cyber, Data & Technology Risk Leader Morgan Adamsky, who formerly served as executive director at Cyber Command. Moreover, a U.S. government shutdown would also severely diminish CISA's workforce, which is currently combating a China-linked threat against Cisco devices.