Data from sensors that detect threats in critical infrastructure networks is sitting unanalyzed after a government contract expired this weekend, raising risks for operational technology, a program leader at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory told lawmakers Tuesday.

That news arrived at a hearing of a House Homeland Security subcommittee on Stuxnet, the malware that was discovered 15 years ago after it afflicted Iran’s nuclear centrifuges. The hearing focused on operational technology (OT), used to monitor and control physical processes in things like manufacturing or energy plants.

Amid a Department of Homeland Security review of contracts, the arrangement between the laboratory and DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to support the CyberSentry program expired Sunday, the laboratory program manager Nathaniel Gleason told lawmakers under questioning Tuesday. An agency official told CyberScoop later Tuesday that the program is still operational.

CyberSentry is a voluntary program for critical infrastructure owners and operators to monitor threats in both their IT and OT networks.

“We’re looking for threats that haven’t been seen before,” Gleason told California Rep. Eric Swalwell, the top Democrat on the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection. “We’re looking for threats that exist right now in our infrastructure. One of the great things about the CyberSentry program is that it takes the research and marries it with what is actually happening on the real networks. So we’re not just doing science projects. We’re deploying that technology out in the real world, detecting real threats.”

But the lab can’t legally analyze the data from the CyberSentry sensors without funding from government agencies, and funding agreements were still making their way through DHS processes before the contract expired this weekend, he said.

“One of the most important things is getting visibility into what’s happening on our OT networks,” Gleason said. “We don’t have enough of that. So losing this visibility through this program is a significant loss.”

Spokespeople for the lab did not immediately provide further details on the size or length of the contract. Other threat hunting contracts have also expired under the Trump administration. 

Chris Butera, CISA’s acting executive assistant director for cybersecurity, said in a statement to CyberScoop that the “CyberSentry program remains fully operational.”

“Through this program, CISA gains deeper insight into network activity of CyberSentry partners, which in turn helps us to disseminate actionable threat information that critical infrastructure owners and operators use to strengthen the security of their networks and to safeguard American interests, people, and our way of life,” Butera said. “CISA routinely reviews all agreements and contracts that support its programs in order to ensure mission alignment and responsible investment of taxpayer dollars. CISA’s ongoing review of its agreement with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has not impacted day-to-day operations of CyberSentry and we look forward to a continued partnership.”

Tatyana Bolton, executive director of the Operational Technology Cyber Coalition, told the subcommittee there aren’t enough federal OT cybersecurity resources in general.

“We must better resource OT security,” Bolton said. “From addressing the growing tech debt,  hiring cybersecurity experts, to procuring and building updated systems, OT owners and operators don’t have the necessary funding to defend their networks.”

Those owners and operators spend 99 cents of every dollar on physical security and 1 cent on cybersecurity, she said. Reauthorizing the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program, due to expire in September, would help with that, Bolton said.

The Trump administration has made large cuts in CISA’s budget since the president took office in January.

This story was updated July 22 with comments from CISA’s Chris Butera.

The post Contract lapse leaves critical infrastructure cybersecurity sensor data unanalyzed at national lab  appeared first on CyberScoop.