| By Morgan Chalfant The prospect of a shutdown in Washington appeared likely Friday afternoon, with lawmakers hours away from a midnight deadline to fund the federal government. The House passed a short-term funding measure Thursday evening that faces larger hurdles in the Senate, where Democrats say they have enough votes to block it in a fight over immigration. In the event of a shutdown, many federal employees deemed nonessential are furloughed, meaning they can't come to work. Others considered essential are "excepted" and will report to work, but won't be paid right away. When it comes to cybersecurity, many federal employees are likely to still report to work. For example, more than half of the employees at the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) cyber and infrastructure protection wing, the National Protection and Programs Directorate, are expected to be exempt from furlough, according to the department's contingency plan. Still, many agencies are likely to see their information technology and cybersecurity departments pared down during a shutdown, which could potentially negatively impact operations. Each agency has a plan in the event of a shutdown, which is written in consultation with the Office and Management and Budget (OMB) at the White House. "As agencies continue adding to their networks, like cloud and mobile, they are increasing the attack surface that federal [chief information officers] are mandated to defend from cyberattacks," said James Hayes, vice president of global government affairs at cybersecurity firm Tenable. "Being forced to operate at FY 2017 funding levels, or through a shuttered government, only makes the job of protecting federal networks harder and unnecessarily stalls plans to implement modern IT solutions." Lawmakers are also likely to pass another short-term continuing resolution (CR) when they do agree on how to fund the government. Experts and industry representatives have long warned that these short-term funding bills hinder the federal government's ability to invest in information technology and embark on new programs. "With the already fragile state of cyber operations at DHS under the current CR, a government shutdown increases the risk factor for the country exponentially with less eyes and ears working an everyday complex threat," James Norton, a former Homeland Security official and expert in cybersecurity, said. "Yes, there will be essential staff still on site but it is a reduced security forces or skeleton staffs that are left to fight fires." "Cyberattacks will continue with or without a budget, however the risks at non-security agencies are even higher as they are not necessarily prepared to deal with security risk in the cyber world with staffs that may not necessarily be considered essential," Norton added. Democrats have vowed to oppose any funding bill that does not include a deal on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that protects illegal immigrants from deportation who entered the country as children. Following a meeting with President Trump at the White House, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Friday afternoon that they had make "progress" but still had "a good number of disagreements" and that a deal had not been reached. In the event of a shutdown, most committee activity will be suspended in the coming week. The House is scheduled to be out of town, but as of Friday afternoon lawmakers were still hanging around in the event more votes are called. One effort that will not be affected by a shutdown is Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference. The Justice Department confirmed that employees with the special counsel's office are exempt from furlough because their paychecks do not rely on annual appropriations. Cyber-focused events in Washington next week include an address from CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who is scheduled to speak at the American Enterprise Institute on intelligence and national security challenges on Tuesday. In case you missed them, here are some of our recent pieces: GOP reps demand release of 'shocking' surveillance memo Kaspersky files injunction challenging government's software ban 'Steele dossier' firm suspected Trump-Russia money laundering House votes to restore State cyber office, bucking Tillerson Senators unveil bipartisan push to deter future election interference Russian hackers move to new political targets North Korean hacker group linked to cryptocurrency attacks in South Korea Researchers identify Android malware that can 'spy extensively' DHS giving 'active defense' cyber tools to private sector, secretary says | 
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