Alliance for Critical Infrastructure Forms Cyber Group
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- ACI launched in February as a nonprofit coalition of nine founding members — JPMorgan Chase, Mastercard, AT&T, Lumen Technologies, AIG, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Consolidated Edison, Southern Company, and Xcel Energy — to improve coordination on shared cybersecurity risks.
- Ben Flatgard, ACI chairman and JPMorgan Chase cybersecurity policy lead, said the private sector manages the vast majority of U.S. infrastructure and cannot outsource risk‑management responsibilities.
- Michele Guido, ACI executive director, said previous tri‑sector groups were siloed and that the new coalition will focus on cross‑sector dependencies that affect multiple essential services.
- ACI outlined a four‑pillar strategic plan, beginning with a white paper on cross‑sector dependencies and a pilot program to develop a national “polycrisis” response protocol.
- CISA will work with ACI to expand its cybersecurity incident‑response playbooks to reflect cross‑sector cooperation, as part of the coalition’s third pillar on operational support and information sharing.
- ACI intends to recruit additional members, collaborate with sector coordinating councils, ISACs, and think tanks, and run regional pilot projects while ensuring it does not duplicate existing sector functions.
Why it matters: The private sector gains a formal platform to address cybersecurity gaps that the federal government’s budget cuts and partnership dismantling have left, while utilities and other critical operators avoid the visibility gaps warned by former CISA officials. The coalition’s cross‑sector focus promises faster, coordinated responses to multi‑sector attacks, reducing the risk of widespread service disruption.
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