Earlier this week, CISA released its The 2025-2026 International Strategic Plan aimed at enhancing global collaboration to address cyber threats to critical infrastructure.
The plan recognizes the intricate and geographically dispersed nature of cyber risks, emphasizing the importance of quickly sharing threat information and risk reduction guidance with international partners.
CISA International Strategic Plan Goals sets out three goals for CISA to achieve over the 2025-2026 period:
- Bolster the Resilience of Foreign Infrastructure on which the US Depends – CISA will work with interagency and international partners to identify and understand which international systems and assets are critical and assess how they are vulnerable to create strategies to manage shared risks.
- Strengthen Integrated Cyber Defense – CISA plans to collaborate with partners, international organizations, and NGOs to shape global cybersecurity practices and standards, promoting widespread cyber safety and security.
- Unify Agency Coordination of International Activities – The CISA Stakeholder Engagement Division will create a governance structure to advise on international issues and clearly outline the agency’s international priorities. This will involve enhancing systematic information sharing across CISA to ensure situational awareness of ongoing and future international activities.
CISA will also focus on enhancing the skills of its workforce to better influence the international landscape including developing training programs for employees overseas and providing guidance on international affairs for all traveling staff.
“In following this plan, CISA will improve coordination with our partners and strengthen international relationships to reduce risk to the globally interconnected and interdependent cyber and physical infrastructure that Americans rely on every day,” CISA Director Jen Easterly commented.
Emily Phelps, Director, Cyware:
“CISA’s 2025-2026 International Strategic Plan underscores the urgency of an interconnected approach to securing critical infrastructure across borders. As cyber threats grow increasingly complex and far-reaching, swift, collaborative information-sharing becomes essential to mitigate risks that could impact not just a single nation but the global landscape. CISA’s commitment to bolstering the resilience of international assets and systems vital to U.S. security reflects a forward-thinking acknowledgement of interdependencies in today’s cyber ecosystem. The focus on strengthening integrated cyber defenses and establishing clearer governance structures is a strategic leap towards a unified, cohesive response to these shared threats. This approach—fostering resilience, enhancing standards, and emphasizing interagency coordination—can set a precedent for global cybersecurity initiatives, reinforcing that collective defense is the linchpin in navigating future cyber challenges.”
A collective approach to defending critical infrastructure is the way to go. And once again I applaud the CISA in terms of leading the way. Hopefully other countries take this just as seriously as the CISA does.
Uncovering the Evolving Functionality of FakeCall Malware
Posted in Commentary with tags Google on November 1, 2024 by itnerdAccording to a report from mobile security platform Zimperium, threat actors are using a modified version of Android malware, dubbed “FakeCall,” taking control of phone dialers and intercepting calls made to banks.
First reported by Kaspersky in 2022, the attack mimicked banking apps and let users make calls through them. Attackers would overlay the bank’s actual number on victims’ screens and then impersonate bank employees when the victim called the number, thereby obtaining users personal banking information.
Ted Miracco, CEO, Approov had this to say:
“Google’s isolated approach to Android security has proven insufficient, as exemplified by recurring threats like ‘FakeCall.’ Dismantling Google’s monopolistic Play Store and fostering competitive app stores with open standards for security—including attestation and a transparent rating system—would empower consumers with clearer insight into app risks and access to safer, rigorously vetted applications.”
The fact that this was first discovered in 2022 and is still around today shows that there needs to be a new approach to keep this sort of malware from being a problem. Hopefully Google who is in all sorts of trouble when it comes to the Play Store can come to the table with something that addresses this once and for all.
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