MS-ISAC enters uncertain new era after losing federal funding and thousands of members

https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/ms-isac-membership-loss-states-federal-funding-cut/821984/

Publish Date: 2026-06-15 09:41:00

Source Domain: www.cybersecuritydive.com

Eight months after the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center lost its federal funding, the cybersecurity threat intelligence sharing group for state and local governments has lost dozens of states and more than ten thousand local jurisdictions that can no longer afford its vital cybersecurity services, even as the hacking threats they face have grown more numerous and more dangerous.

The MS-ISAC, run by the nonprofit Center for Internet Security (CIS), says it’s working hard to recruit new members, including through discounted fees, and it stresses that it’s still collecting enough data from its remaining members to produce high-quality cyber threat intelligence for that community. But the MS-ISAC’s membership drain could leave thousands of small jurisdictions and their critical infrastructure more vulnerable to nation-state sabotage and ransomware attacks — local impacts that could resonate nationally at a time when China and Iran are using cyberattacks as a tool of foreign policy in their conflicts with the U.S.

“Community security is national security,” said Sarah Powazek, program director of public interest cybersecurity at the UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity. “I cannot overstate the local instability caused by critical services [being] forced offline by a cyberattack — schools close, water stops flowing and public life grinds to a halt.”

Experts say the MS-ISAC’s struggles are a stark example of how the Trump administration’s abandonment of traditional federal responsibilities is undermining U.S. cybersecurity.

“Just as the threat environment is poised to accelerate at an exceptional rate,” Samir Jain, the vice president of policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said at a recent House hearing, “the federal government has dramatically pulled back.”