The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Tuesday said that it has added Viasat [VSAT] to a program that will allow the global communications company to provide its customers with sensitive and classified cyber threat indicators provided by the agency for use in detecting and blocking malicious traffic entering or exiting customer networks.
Viasat joins telecommunications providers AT&T [T] and Lumen [LUMN] on CISA's Enhanced Cybersecurity Services (ECS) program in receiving the "government-vetted indicators of compromise," the agency said.
"This announcement follows a rigorous accreditation process designed to ensure the security of classified information and the privacy of end-use customers," Brandon Wales, acting director of CISA, said in a statement. "ECS remains the only commercially available service capable of automated sensitive and classified information sharing. We believe this new partnership highlights our continued commitment to using a variety of tools to enhance the nation's cyber defense posture."
Participation in ECS is voluntary and, in addition to providing indicators of compromise to help detect and thwart cyber breaches, the program also provides analyst services to U.S.-based entities.
Viasat on Monday said its ECS solution uses a National Security Agency-certified Trusted Cyber Sensor to monitor network traffic with the classified cyber threat indicators. The sensors are put inside customer networks and are securely managed and maintained from Viasat's Cyber Security Operations Center.
On Monday, CISA also announced new members to its leadership team. Nitin Natarajan is the agency's deputy director. Most recently, Natarajan was a director at federal solutions provider Avantus Federal in the Homeland Security and Federal Civilian sectors.
Eric Goldstein is the executive assistant director for Cybersecurity at CISA, joining the agency from Goldman Sachs, where he was head of Cybersecurity Policy, Strategy, and Regulation. He was also on the Biden administration's agency review team for CISA and served in various roles at the agency from 2013 to 2017 when it was called the National Protection and Programs Directorate.
David Mussington is the executive assistant director for Infrastructure Security after most recently working at the Univ. of Maryland as Professor of the Practice and Director of the Center for Public Policy and Private Enterprise and the School of Public Policy.
CISA, an operating component of the Department of Homeland Security, works with the federal civilian government and private sector to bolster the nation's cyber security posture.