Cyberattacks are hurting US companies. Here’s how Congress can improve cybersecurity info sharing.

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New Atlanticist

June 5, 2025 • 10:11 am ET

Cyberattacks are hurting US companies. Here’s how Congress can improve cybersecurity info sharing.

By
Tanner Wilburn, Sara Ann Brackett, and Urmita Chowdhury

Cybersecurity is a crew sport, but small and medium-sized companies (SMBs) have spent years on the sidelines, regardless of being the targets of an estimated 43 p.c of cyberattacks within the United States. As Congress discusses renewing the United States’ cybersecurity information-sharing framework, it’s time to lastly welcome SMBs into the cybersecurity neighborhood. 

On September 30, the framework for sharing essential cybersecurity info between authorities and business, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (CISA 2015), will expire until Congress acts. This legislation—distinct from the equally named Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (additionally CISA)—offers important authorized protections that permit personal firms to share cyber menace info amongst themselves and with the federal government.

There is already bipartisan assist for renewing CISA 2015. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) launched laws to increase the present legislation for an additional ten years with out modifications, an method supported by main commerce associations. The invoice’s authors accurately emphasize the significance of preserving the established information-sharing setting. Yet, renewing CISA 2015 unchanged leaves the cybersecurity neighborhood blind to vital menace intelligence that SMBs uniquely maintain.

As initially handed, CISA 2015 eliminated authorized boundaries and disincentives to sharing cyber menace knowledge. It offers legal responsibility protections and exemptions from sure public disclosure necessities or regulatory penalties for firms that share menace indicators in good religion. These protections considerably cut back the danger of lawsuits or regulatory enforcement when organizations trade info with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or different firms beneath the framework, offered the data was anonymized and used strictly for a “cybersecurity purpose.”

These protections dramatically enhanced cybersecurity info sharing. In the personal sector, entities such because the Cyber Threat Alliance fashioned to facilitate voluntary company-to-company info sharing. Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs), organizations devoted to amassing, analyzing, and disseminating sector-specific menace knowledge, have additionally grown considerably. The National Council of ISACs now contains twenty-seven sector-specific ISACs, whereas the Multi-State ISAC alone exceeded 18,000 members final yr. These members share cyber menace info instantly due to the protections supplied by CISA 2015. Even authorities applications have developed in response. DHS’s Automated Indicator Sharing (AIS) platform has considerably improved fast info exchanges and menace consciousness, aided by CISA 2015 protections.

SMBs are being left behind

Still lacking from this checklist, nonetheless, are the massive variety of SMBs that function throughout the United States. SMBs have largely been neglected, are topic to a lot of assaults, and their workers face social engineering threats similar to phishing and fraud 350 p.c greater than these at giant firms. While platforms similar to DHS’s AIS are helpful to bigger firms, SMB participation stays restricted on account of excessive prices, technical complexity, and insufficient outreach. This exclusion leaves SMBs susceptible and deprives the cybersecurity neighborhood of a major supply of menace intelligence.

Since 2015, the cyber menace panorama has developed, with SMBs now frequent targets. Roughly one in three small companies will endure a cyberattack within the subsequent yr, with every incident costing a median of almost $255,000, virtually an order of magnitude better than the 2014 common price of $27,752. This modified menace panorama and lack of participation in info sharing leaves a niche. 

Any new CISA 2015 authorization ought to deal with this hole to profit your complete cybersecurity ecosystem. SMBs signify a priceless supply of menace knowledge, and integrating their insights would considerably improve predictive capabilities and resilience. Strengthening SMB defenses would additionally cut back alternatives for attackers to take advantage of smaller entities as gateways to bigger networks. 

How Congress can replace CISA 2015

To obtain this integration, Congress ought to guarantee any reauthorization addresses 4 focused reforms. 

First, make clear definitions. The time period “cybersecurity purpose” ought to explicitly embody protections in opposition to social engineering threats similar to fraud and phishing, guaranteeing SMBs obtain complete protection for the threats they face.

Second, incentivize extra participation amongst SMBs. Congress ought to authorize a DHS-managed initiative particularly designed to supply smaller companies with accessible, actionable menace intelligence and reasonably priced cybersecurity assets. Federal assist might take the type of grants, vouchers, or backed cybersecurity options. 

Third, codify profitable operational fashions into legislation. This was tried final yr with a invoice launched by Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA-14) that will codify CISA 2015’s Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC). The JCDC has efficiently united federal companies and personal firms to successfully reply to high-profile cyber incidents, together with the exploitation of Ivanti gateway vulnerabilities and the July 2024 CrowdStrike outage. Currently, JCDC and plenty of related applications lack specific statutory authority, making them susceptible to termination by government motion, which is what occurred to the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council in March of this yr. Codifying such applications ensures sustained and constant cybersecurity collaboration regardless of political shifts.

Fourth, rename the legislation to obviously distinguish it from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Cybersecurity acronyms are onerous sufficient as it’s. A brand new identify, such because the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), a reputation from an earlier model of CISA 2015, would get rid of the confusion attributable to acronym duplication. 

Reauthorizing CISA 2015 with these focused enhancements—clearer definitions, SMB assist, codification of confirmed applications, and a definite id—will be certain that SMBs play their half in and profit from making the following decade of cybersecurity extra resilient than the final.

Tanner Wilburn is a latest graduate of the Indiana University Maurer School of Law with an MS in cybersecurity threat administration from the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering. 

Sara Ann Brackett is an assistant director with the Cyber Statecraft Initiative, a part of the Atlantic Council Tech Programs. 

Urmita Chowdhury is an assistant director for trainings and competitions on the Cyber Statecraft Initiative, a part of the Atlantic Council Tech Programs. 

Further studying

Related Experts:
Sara Ann Brackett and
Urmita Chowdhury

Image: October 9, 2023: A person makes use of a pc keyboard in Toronto. (Credit Image: Graeme Roy/The Canadian Press through ZUMA Press) Via REUTERS

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