Nathaniel Fick, U.S. ambassador at large for cyberspace and digital policy at the State Department, said the department plans to set up a special fund to help allies and other international partners facing cybersecurity crises, Breaking Defense reported Monday.

“First, we’re making a push for a dedicated cyber assistance fund. We did it after 9/11 for counterterrorism, we should do it now,” Fick said of the fund, which he said would receive support from Congress.

“We don’t have the mechanisms in place for rapid, dedicated response. That would help a lot, and I think there’s support for it on the Hill,” he added.

The fund is part of a three-part plan Fick discussed to address the gap in the demand for capability building worldwide. The two other parts focus on the role of the private sector and the need to modernize delivery mechanisms for fundamental global cyber capacity building.

Fick also cited the global demand for cyber literacy support and capacity building and the interest of allies in the U.S. National Cybersecurity Strategy.

The Potomac Officers Club will hold the 2023 Cyber Summit on June 8. Join this event to hear thought leaders as they discuss cyber capabilities to counter emerging threats.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is inviting vendors to submit proposals for a project aiming to automatically compartmentalize software in order to lower the risk of cyber attacks.

The broad agency announcement is for the Compartmentalization and Privilege Management program, which will help the agency reform its legacy computing systems to make them more resilient against online threats, DARPA said Monday.

The agency is looking into a cybersecurity approach that involves limiting accessibility privileges and subdividing software into small compartments. The methodology has shown potential in blocking initial penetration attempts from escalating into full attacks.

Howard Shrobe, CPM program manager at DARPA’S Information Innovation Office, said their team hopes the CPM program will “create sufficient confidence for commercial entities to make the investments necessary for large-scale adoption,” which could consequently lower the cost of compartmentalization.

The project includes two phases that will be conducted over a four-year period. The first phase will employ the Linux operating system for technology development, testing and evaluation. The second phase will involve demonstration on open-source systems relevant to the Department of Defense.

On June 8, the Potomac Officers Club will host its annual Cyber Summit to shine a light on cyberspace as “the newest warfighting domain.” To join the conversation, click on the image below to register.

An Ernst & Young study has found that one in three federal employees said their agencies annually spend more than $50 million on cybersecurity and that organizations are more likely to spend on security operations and data protection and privacy.

EY teamed up with Market Connections to survey 200 employees across federal civilian and defense agencies between November and December 2022 to identify key trends in cybersecurity investment and found that 63 percent of respondents said their agencies have in place a cyber roadmap that focuses on operational technology.

Of those with a roadmap, 61 percent of respondents said they assess their cyber roadmaps and priorities on a quarterly basis.

When asked about the maturity of their cyberthreat intelligence programs, only 19 percent said they consider their initiatives as “very” mature.

The report showed that only 46 percent of respondents said their agencies have supply chain risk management programs and nearly 60 percent said their organizations have conducted a cyber tabletop exercise in the past year.

Of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s five pillars of zero trust, 42 percent said they are “very” prepared for the identity aspect. At least 20 percent of respondents said they are very prepared when it comes to network and data pillars, while 9 percent are very ready for devices and 8 percent for applications.

The study recommends that agencies conduct a cyber tabletop training exercise annually, prioritize SCRM programs to mitigate risks, facilitate the decision-making process through cyberthreat intelligence initiatives and come up with a security framework that encompasses all aspects of zero trust.