Federals New by ENS Resources

Federal News by ENS Resources

FEMA – $100 million for PSGP

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued a Bulletin [located at  announcing Fiscal Year 2016 Notices of Funding Opportunity. A total of $100 million has been allocated for the Port Security Grant Program (PSGP). Additional information regarding the PSGP may be found in the related notice.

DHS – cybersecurity information sharing

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a notice stating that cybersecurity information sharing documents are available at Automated Indicator Sharing
Automated Indicator Sharing (AIS)

The Automated Indicator Sharing (AIS) initiative is a capability that DHS has developed to enable the timely exchange of cyber threat indicators among the federal departments and agencies and the private sector and other non-federal entities. This capability supports federal departments and agencies and the private sector and other non-federal entities in addressing cyber threats to public health and safety, national security, and economic security while ensuring appropriate privacy, civil liberties, and other compliance protections.

The goal of the AIS initiative is to achieve real-time sharing of cyber threat indicators by enabling DHS’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) to (1) receive indicators from the private sector and other non-federal entities; (2) remove unnecessary personally identifiable information; and (3) disseminate the indicators, as appropriate, to other federal departments and agencies and the private sector and other non-federal entities.

By design, the initiative:

• Performs a series of automated analyses and technical mitigations to ensure that personally identifiable information (PII) that is not directly related to a cybersecurity threat is removed before any information is shared;
• Incorporates limited elements of human review to ensure such information is removed in cases where automated mitigations are not feasible;
• Anonymizes the identity of the submitter of the information, unless the submitter has consented to sharing its identity;
• Minimizes the amount of data collected to what is directly related to a cyber threat;
• Retains information for a limited amount of time, consistent with the need to address cyber threats; and
• Ensures any information collected is explicitly used for authorized governmental purposes.

Please email taxiiadmins@us-cert.gov (link sends e-mail) for additional information and to join AIS.

Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 Implementation

On December 18, 2015, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015, which is designed to increase cybersecurity information sharing between the private sector and the Federal Government. The Act provides various protections to non-federal entities that share cyber threat indicators or defensive measures with the Federal Government. DHS’s AIS initiative is the principal mechanism for such sharing with the Federal Government. Sharing with DHS through AIS or other DHS mechanisms that is conducted in accordance with the Act’s requirements receives liability protection.

As mandated by the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (Title I of the Cybersecurity Act of 2015), DHS released guidance to assist private sector and federal entities share cyber threat indicators with the Federal Government. The Department also released interim policies and procedures relating to the receipt and use of cyber threat indicators by federal entities, interim guidelines relating to privacy and civil liberties in connection with the exchange of those indicators, and guidance to federal agencies on sharing information in the government’s possession.

• Sharing of Cyber Threat Indicators and Defensive Measures by the Federal Government under the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (PDF | 582 KB)
• Guidance to Assist Non-Federal Entities to Share Cyber Threat Indicators and Defensive Measures with Federal Entities under the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (PDF | 475 KB)
• Interim Procedures Related to the Receipt of Cyber Threat Indicators and Defensive Measures by the Federal Government (PDF | 398 KB)
• Privacy and Civil Liberties Interim Guidelines: Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (PDF | 486 KB)