The Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) has announced its focuses for 2024. The JCDC is comprised of government entities and private sector organizations that seek to address and adapt to evolving cybersecurity risks. 

The group’s 2024 priorities center around three focal points.

  1. Countering Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) efforts aimed for essential infrastructure sectors, potentially with the goal to influence essential functions of the government and private sector. 
  2. Securing critical infrastructure cybersecurity to minimize cyberattacks. 
  3. Reducing the probability and impact of AI threats.

The three focus points are expanded on in the press release, outlining the group’s priorities.

  1. The first focus is to identify and defend against APT actors by improving the preparedness of vital infrastructure. The collaboration of government agencies and private sector organizations will work to predict and counter attacks.
  2. Resiliency and recovery from cyberattacks are emphasized in the press release. The group seeks to elevate critical infrastructure’s capacity to respond to threats.
  3. Providing election security for state and local officials is a part of the 2024 focus. By sharing cyber threat data with election officials and vendors, the group seeks to improve the visibility and resiliency of election security.
  4. By leveraging resources and partnerships, the group intends to reduce the influence of ransomware on vital infrastructure. The goal is to focus on operational systems that disrupt ransomware efforts.
  5. Security by design is a focus the group will carry over from 2023. The intent is to implement effective cybersecurity defenses through a fundamental change in the designing, manufacturing and maintaining of technology, ensuring strong defenses are customary.
  6. The group will support the efforts of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to reduce AI attacks.