WSJ Pro reported on September 4 that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency confirmed plans to shut down a half dozen regional programs that provide security assessments to critical infrastructure operators. Cybersecurity Dive reported that the affected services include Cyber Resilience Reviews, Cyber Resilience Essentials surveys, Ransomware Readiness Assessments, Incident Management Reviews, External Dependencies Management Assessments, and Cyber Infrastructure Surveys.
That may sound like federal program housekeeping. For owners and operators, it is more practical than that. A CISA free cybersecurity assessment has often been a useful outside reference point for organizations that do not have a deep internal security team. Schools, healthcare practices, local governments, utilities, manufacturers, nonprofits, and vendors in the critical infrastructure supply chain may now have to be more deliberate about how those reviews get done.
The business issue is accountability
The main question is not whether every business qualified for a CISA field assessment. Many did not. The larger issue is that owners still need a way to measure whether the organization can keep operating during a cyber incident, ransomware event, vendor failure, or dependency disruption. If a planned Cyber Resilience Review or Ransomware Readiness Assessment is no longer available, the work does not disappear. It moves onto the owner's calendar, the MSP's statement of work, the insurance renewal checklist, or the next budget discussion.
This is where small and midsize organizations can get caught in the middle. A vendor may say backups are handled. An MSP may say security is covered. A software provider may say the cloud platform is resilient. Those claims are useful only when someone can point to current evidence: tested restores, access reviews, incident-response contacts, dependency maps, and clear ownership of the systems that matter most.
What owners should ask now
If your organization expected to use a critical infrastructure cybersecurity assessment or similar outside review, start with a simple inventory of the decision gap. The point is not to recreate a federal program overnight. The point is to avoid assuming that a review will happen just because it used to be available.
- Which assessment did we expect to use? Name the specific review, such as a Cyber Resilience Review, Ransomware Readiness Assessment, dependency assessment, or incident management review.
- What business question was it supposed to answer? That might be whether backups are recoverable, whether key vendors are documented, or whether incident roles are clear.
- Who owns the replacement plan? Assign the work to an internal leader, MSP, security vendor, compliance advisor, or another accountable party.
- What evidence will we accept? Ask for dates, reports, test results, remediation items, and a plain-language summary of open risk.
- What needs budget approval? Some gaps may require policy work. Others may require monitoring, backup changes, network segmentation, or outside assessment time.
Do not confuse a questionnaire with a review
CISA's Cross-Sector Cybersecurity Performance Goals can still help organizations focus on baseline security outcomes. They are useful as a starting point, especially for teams that need a practical way to compare current controls against common expectations. But a self-guided questionnaire is not the same thing as a facilitated review with someone who can challenge assumptions, connect technical findings to operations, and help leadership decide what matters first.
For a New Jersey business IT assessment, that distinction matters. A healthcare practice, manufacturer, school, or professional services firm does not need a pile of abstract findings. It needs a short list of risks tied to real business operations: patient scheduling, payroll, production systems, client files, billing, communications, and the vendors that support them.
A practical next step
Owners do not need to wait for perfect guidance. Ask your IT provider or internal team for a one-page resilience review plan that covers backup evidence, ransomware readiness, incident contacts, vendor dependencies, remote access, and the top systems required to keep the business running. If the answer is vague, ask what review method they are using and when the results will be ready.
The reported CISA assessment cuts do not mean every organization is suddenly on its own. They do mean that free, hands-on review capacity may be less predictable. That makes resilience planning a business decision, not just a technical task waiting in someone else's queue.
Sources and further reading
