Roughly 80% of the staff at US cybersecurity agency CISA may be sent home at the end of the week as a government shutdown looms.
The US government will partially shut down on Sunday unless lawmakers reach a deal on a funding bill. A shutdown will result in the furlough of hundreds of thousands of non-essential federal employees and the suspension of many services.
The Department of Homeland Security has announced the number of employees that would stay on during a shutdown for each of its agencies. In the case of CISA, which had 3,117 employees as of June 17, only 571 would remain during a lapse in appropriations. This means that more than 80% of its workers would be furloughed.
“Following notification of the lapse in appropriations, the non-exempt CISA staff will need four business hours to complete an orderly cessation of all other activities,” the DHS said.
A government shutdown can have a significant impact on cybersecurity, including increasing criminal activity, failure to renew digital certificates, failure to deploy security patches, and denting the government’s ability to recruit talent.
In CISA’s case, the agency plays an important role in protecting the government and the private sector against cyber threats.
This includes issuing warnings over actively exploited vulnerabilities, helping investigate high-impact cyberattacks, creating guidance, aiding critical infrastructure organizations beef up their security, conducting cyber exercises, and assisting with incident response.
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