CRS Reports – Week of 8-5-23 – Cybersecurity

This week the Congressional Research Service (CRS) published two reports on cyber security issues. The first was an update of a November 2021 report on “Cybersecurity: Selected Cyberattacks, 2012-2022”. The second is a new report on “DHS’s Cybersecurity Mission—An Overview”.

Selected Cyberattacks

Most of the body of this revised report is the same as the earlier version. They have expanded the number of nation-state cyberattacks examined from 23 to 30. Interestingly, no new criminal cyberattacks were added to the report.

All of the attacks listed in both categories are annotated with links to DOJ reports.

Cybersecurity Missions

This report provides a very broad, non-annotated, review of the cybersecurity related missions of DHS. It lists the following broad categories with a brief discussion of each:

• Information Sharing,

• Federal Network Security,

• Critical Infrastructure Protection,

• Law Enforcement, and

• Research and Development

It also provides a brief description of the cybersecurity responsibilities of the following agencies within DHS:

• Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA),

• US Secret Service (USSS),

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),

• Transportation Security Agency (TSA),

• US Coast Guard (USCG), and

• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Issues for Congress

Both of these reports lack an ‘Issues for Congress’ section, these are strictly informational overviews without links to provide for additional research by Members or their Staffs.