The National Security Agency has released its annual Cybersecurity Year in Review, focusing on partnerships to improve the agility of its IT defense efforts.

One of the report’s findings was the growth in the Cybersecurity Collaboration Center’s industry partnerships, exceeding 300 collaborations in the past 12 months, NSA said Thursday.

The 2022 Year in Review highlighted the agency’s Adversary Defeat team, which takes part in whole-of-government campaigns against cyberthreats from U.S. adversaries. It also touched on international and domestic collaborations to publish defensive actions and address obstacles in quantum computing.

NSA reported that it launched the Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite 2.0, detailing the future requirements for quantum-safe cryptographic algorithms for the benefit of network security service owners, operators and vendors. In the past year, the agency also funded several education programs, from the CodeBreaker Challenge to the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity.

“By protecting the U.S. Government’s most sensitive networks, we cascade solutions that help secure critical infrastructure, U.S. allies, and businesses and consumers around the world,” said Rob Joyce, NSA cybersecurity director and two-time Wash100 awardee. “Our efforts to protect those networks help protect yours.”

The European Commission has issued its draft adequacy decision on a new framework that seeks to promote and ensure safe transfers of personal data from the European Union to U.S. companies. 

The commission said Tuesday the draft decision on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework comes following the October release of an executive order to improve safeguards for U.S. signals intelligence activities, along with regulations adopted by the U.S. attorney general.

The draft decision has been handed over to the European Data Protection Board for its opinion. The European Parliament and EU member states will have the opportunity to scrutinize and approve the draft before the commission can issue a final adequacy decision.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the draft decision marks a key step in addressing the EU court of justice’s ruling in the Schrems II case in 2020.

“Under the Framework, the United States has implemented strengthened safeguards for signals intelligence activities, developed a new redress mechanism, and updated privacy principles for U.S. organizations,” she noted.

“We are confident that these measures will restore stability to the data flows that thousands of U.S. and EU firms depend on – the lifeblood of the $7.1 trillion transatlantic economy,” Raimondo added.

The Joint Ransomware Task Force held Wednesday its second meeting and assessed measures and efforts carried out by working groups to address the impact and prevalence of ransomware incidents.

Some of these efforts are standardizing federal engagement with ransomware victims to provide services and evaluate gaps, gathering data to improve the cybersecurity community’s understanding of ransomware and trends related to threat actors and victims and broadening multidirectional intelligence sharing between JRTF members and nongovernmental partners, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said Thursday.

CISA and the FBI co-chaired the meeting, which also cited working groups’ efforts to examine lessons learned from ransomware incidents to help enhance the federal government’s cyber response and initiatives to improve intelligence integration and better coordinate interagency campaigns to bolster national defense against ransomware activities.

Eric Goldstein, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA and co-chair of JRTF, said the task force has made key strides in establishing a foundation to advance shared initiatives against ransomware threats.

“We will continue to accelerate progress and work closely with partners across the cybersecurity community to drive measurable progress in reducing the prevalence of damaging ransomware events affecting American organizations,” Goldstein added.

Bryan Vorndran, assistant director of FBI’s cyber division and co-chair of JRTF, said the bureau, along with its federal partners, is determined to use its capabilities to counter ransomware threats.

“The JRTF demonstrates how the FBI sees cyber as the ultimate team sport and remains committed to public and private partnerships integral to dismantling ransomware networks and holding criminal actors accountable.”

The task force held its first meeting in September.

Steve Kelly, a senior director for cybersecurity and emerging technology on the National Security Council, said the U.S. Office of Management and Budget will soon take feedback from industry experts for its planned rollout of new cybersecurity standards, FedScoop reported Wednesday.

Kelly discussed the industry consultation during the Fortinet Federal Security Transformation Summit on Dec. 8 and adds that OMB is partnering with software providers as it introduced the new standards.

“OMB is working closely with agencies to ensure a consistent approach to implementation, and [we] plan to soon host a listening session with software makers and other interested parties to continue to take their feedback on some of the language,” said Kelly.

OMB is set to publish the minimum cybersecurity requirements for vendors by January 2023.