CISA loses key employee behind early ransomware warnings

David Stern, the driving force behind CISA’s Pre-Ransomware Notification Initiative (PRNI), resigned on 19 December after being ordered to take a job at the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Boston or quit, according to four people familiar with the matter. The agency’s DHS directive prompted Stern to leave rather than accept the reassignment, the piece notes.

PRNI is the CISA programme that warns organisations about imminent ransomware attacks by alerting them when actors are preparing to encrypt or steal data. Cybersecurity Dive is linked for further details, while the report itself discusses whether the move had a rational basis or not. The article presents Stern’s departure as a major setback for CISA’s early-warning efforts.