The current federal government shutdown, the longest in United States history, is in its fourth week, with no clear path to resolution. With 800,000 federal employees on full or partial leave as a result, cybersecurity experts raised an early alarm about how the shutdown would impact US cybersecurity. Those early concerns have since compounded and evolved into a mounting crisis.
Most intelligence and law enforcement work is continuing during the shutdown, because the Department of Defense already has its funding established for 2019. And a large number of critical federal employees outside of DoD are being asked to report to work uncompensated until they can receive backpay. But crucially, from a cybersecurity perspective, organizations within the Department of Homeland Security—including the new Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, launched in November—are operating with a skeleton crew.
