Contract lapse leaves critical infrastructure cybersecurity sensor data unanalyzed at national lab

The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Data from sensors that detect threats in critical infrastructure networks at the laboratory is sitting unanalyzed after a government contract expired this weekend. (Photo: Jason Laurea/LLNL)

By Tim Starks • Jul 23, 2025

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.