CISA mutes own website, shifts routine cyber alerts to Musk’s X, RSS, email – Source: go.theregister.com

The US government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced Monday that going forward, only urgent alerts tied to emerging threats or major cyber activity will appear on its website. Routine updates, guidance, and other notifications will instead be shared via email, RSS, and X.

Up until now, its Cybersecurity Alerts and Advisories website has been posting a variety of bulletins, including known vulnerabilities under attack, flaws found in everything from industrial control systems to smart TVs, and warnings about specific products. Starting today, many of these updates will be distributed via email, RSS, and the social media site better known as Twitter that’s owned by the President’s personal billionaire éminence grease Elon Musk.

CISA wants this critical information to get the attention it deserves

“The focus of our Cybersecurity Alerts & Advisories webpage will now be on urgent information tied to emerging threats or major cyber activity,” the org said. “CISA wants this critical information to get the attention it deserves and ensure it is easier to find.”

IT admins and others who want to know are advised to sign up for CISA’s email notifications to stay informed. Some updates will still be available via RSS, though users tracking the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog must now subscribe to that topic through GovDelivery. X will also carry general cybersecurity updates. We’ve asked CISA for further comment.

One has to wonder if this policy shift is linked to staff cuts at the agency, which began in March under the direction of Musk’s DOGE – a Trump-blessed project to trim costs at various federal agencies that oversee the Tesla tycoon’s businesses.

While some CISA workers have left, more layoffs are expected, as President Trump’s wish-list budget for 2026 proposes slashing CISA’s funding by about 17 percent. Former agency chief Jen Easterly has publicly criticized the recommendation, and described it as harmful to America.

“In a world where we are facing more serious, more complex, more dynamic threats, in a world where cyber crime damages are expected to cost the world $10.5 trillion by the end of this year, in a world where actors from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army are burrowed into our most sensitive critical infrastructure, that is a real loss for America to see the capability and capacity of America’s cyber defense agency being undermined,” she told the RSA Conference last month.

• CISA slammed for role in ‘censorship industrial complex’ as budget faces possible $500M cut
• Ex-CISA chief decries cuts as Trump demands loyalty above all else
• Homeland Security boss says CISA has gone off the rails, vows to set it right
• Chris Krebs loses Global Entry membership amid Trump feud

At the same time, US government bodies are increasingly moving more of their communications to Elon Musk’s social network. In February, following two major aviation accidents, the National Transportation Safety Board announced it would no longer distribute updates about press conferences or investigations via email, and would instead post all such information to its X account.

Then in April, the Social Security Administration began cutting staff from its communications office and told regional offices they would no longer issue press releases or “Dear Colleague” letters. Instead, agency updates will now be posted on X.

“If you’re used to getting press releases and Dear Colleague letters, you might want to subscribe to the official SSA X account, so you can stay up to date with agency news,” said SSA Midwest-West (MWW) Regional Commissioner Linda Kerr-Davis said at the time. “I know this probably sounds very foreign to you — it did to me as well — and not what we are used to, but we are in different times now.”

The SSA is still issuing some press releases on its website, such as information about the most popular baby names for 2024. (Olivia and Liam, if you’re curious.)

280 characters isn’t a lot of space to convey information, but maybe these agencies will get a group discount on X Premium for longer tweets. Either way, it’s good news for one of Trump’s more-favored billionaires. ®