On April 16, a foundational piece of the world’s cybersecurity infrastructure may quietly grind to a halt. MITRE’s stewardship of the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures program—a backbone of coordinated vulnerability disclosure for more than two decades—is facing an uncertain future as its U.S. Department of Homeland Security contract expires. Without confirmed renewal or replacement, the industry risks entering a period of dangerous opacity in vulnerability tracking.

What CVE and CWE Mean for Cybersecurity

For those outside the security trenches, it’s easy to overlook how essential the CVE and CWE – or Common Weakness Enumeration – programs have become. CVEs assign standardized identifiers to software vulnerabilities, making it easier for security researchers, vendors, and IT teams to communicate and prioritize fixes. The CWE program, a related effort, categorizes common coding errors that introduce those vulnerabilities in the first place. Together, they form the connective tissue for a global ecosystem of security tooling and coordination. From vulnerability scanners to patch management systems and threat intel feeds, thousands of tools and workflows rely on up-to-date CVE data. Vendors use CVEs to issue advisories and coordinate disclosures. Security teams use them to track risks and drive remediation. Even government agencies like CISA and the DoD rely on CVEs as a core part of their threat modeling and defensive planning.

MITRE’s Contract Expires—and There’s No Backup Plan

MITRE has confirmed that its DHS contract to manage the CVE and CWE programs is set to lapse on April 16, 2025, and as of now, no renewal has been finalized. This contract, renewed annually, has funded critical work to keep the CVE program running, including updates to the schema, assignment coordination, and vulnerability vetting. “Failure to renew MITRE’s contract for the CVE program, seemingly set to expire on April 16, 2025, risks significant disruption,” said Jason Soroko, Senior Fellow at Sectigo. “A service break would likely degrade national vulnerability databases and advisories. This lapse could negatively affect tool vendors, incident response operations, and critical infrastructure broadly. MITRE emphasizes its continued commitment but warns of these potential impacts if the contracting pathway is not maintained.”

A Single Point of Failure in a Global System

Greg Anderson, CEO and founder of DefectDojo, voiced what many in the community are feeling: “MITRE’s confirmation that it is losing DHS funding to maintain the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) program should concern every cybersecurity professional around the world, especially considering that the funding expires tomorrow—leaving no room for anything to be built in its place.” Anderson added a sobering thought experiment: “If, as expected, the database goes offline tomorrow and only GitHub records remain, every security team has just lost an essential resource for early warnings and a cohesive framework for naming and addressing vulnerabilities.” He explained the risks of a fragmented landscape: “To illustrate, say a new vulnerability in encryption used across the internet emerges. Without the CVE program, one non-governing body may name the issue ‘The worst encryption flaw ever,’ but another non-governing body names the issue ‘A terrible encryption flaw,’ both not using the CVE-20XX-XXXX identification protocol. Without CVEs, how do we even know we’re talking about the same issue?”

Government Scramble and Industry Alarm

MITRE has said that discussions with the U.S. government are active and that it remains committed to the CVE mission. But with the expiration date looming, time is running short—and the consequences of even a temporary gap are severe. “Hopefully this situation gets resolved quickly,” said Casey Ellis, founder at Bugcrowd. “CVE underpins a huge chunk of vulnerability management, incident response, and critical infrastructure protection efforts. A sudden interruption in services has the very real potential to bubble up into a national security problem in short order.” Across the cybersecurity ecosystem—from vendors to government agencies—the call is the same: resolve this, and fast.

This Is a Wake-Up Call

Whether funding is restored in time or not, this moment should serve as a wake-up call for the industry and policymakers alike. A program as vital as CVE should not be hanging by a thread every April. It needs stable, long-term funding and a robust governance model that ensures continuity, even in the face of bureaucratic delays or shifting political winds. Cyber threats are evolving faster than ever. Shutting down the CVE program – even briefly – would be like turning off air traffic control mid-flight. This isn’t just about maintaining a database. It’s about maintaining trust in the systems that protect us all.

Conclusion

The potential shutdown of the CVE program due to lack of funding is a critical issue that affects the entire cybersecurity community. The program’s importance cannot be overstated, as it provides a standardized way of identifying and addressing vulnerabilities. Without it, the industry would be plunged into darkness, making it difficult to coordinate vulnerability disclosures and prioritize fixes. It is essential that the U.S. government and other stakeholders take immediate action to ensure the program’s continued operation.

FAQs

1. What is the CVE program?
   The CVE program is a foundational piece of the world’s cybersecurity infrastructure that assigns standardized identifiers to software vulnerabilities, making it easier for security researchers, vendors, and IT teams to communicate and prioritize fixes.
2. What is the impact of the CVE program shutdown?
   The shutdown of the CVE program would have a significant impact on the cybersecurity community, making it difficult to coordinate vulnerability disclosures and prioritize fixes. It would also lead to a fragmented landscape, where security teams would have to gather and consolidate information in a piecemeal fashion, wasting valuable time that could be spent addressing the issues.
3. What is the current status of the CVE program funding?
   The current contract for the CVE program is set to expire on April 16, 2025, and as of now, no renewal has been finalized.
4. What can be done to prevent the CVE program shutdown?
   The U.S. government and other stakeholders must take immediate action to ensure the program’s continued operation by providing stable, long-term funding and a robust governance model that ensures continuity.
5. Why is the CVE program important?
   The CVE program is important because it provides a standardized way of identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, which is essential for maintaining trust in the systems that protect us all.

As companies embark on digital transformation strategies, they are faced with an overwhelming amount of data that can be both a blessing and a curse. With the right approach, this data can be leveraged to drive business growth, improve customer experiences, and gain a competitive edge. In this article, we will explore the world of big data, little data, and everything in between, and provide strategies for leveraging digital insights to drive business success.

Understanding Big Data

Big data refers to the large amounts of structured and unstructured data that organizations collect from various sources, including social media, customer interactions, and sensor data. This data can be analyzed to identify patterns, trends, and insights that can inform business decisions. Big data analytics involves using advanced tools and techniques, such as machine learning and natural language processing, to extract insights from large datasets.

Benefits of Big Data

The benefits of big data are numerous, including improved customer experiences, increased operational efficiency, and enhanced decision-making. By analyzing large amounts of data, organizations can gain a deeper understanding of their customers, identify areas of inefficiency, and make data-driven decisions that drive business growth.

Challenges of Big Data

However, working with big data also presents several challenges, including data quality issues, scalability, and security concerns. Ensuring the accuracy and completeness of large datasets can be a significant challenge, and analyzing and storing large amounts of data can require significant investments in infrastructure and technology.

Understanding Little Data

Little data, on the other hand, refers to the small, focused datasets that are often overlooked in the era of big data. Little data can be just as valuable as big data, as it can provide insights into specific business problems or customer needs. Little data analytics involves using simple tools and techniques, such as spreadsheets and statistical analysis, to extract insights from small datasets.

Benefits of Little Data

The benefits of little data include its ease of use, low cost, and ability to provide quick insights into specific business problems. Little data can be used to identify areas for improvement, measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and inform product development decisions.

Challenges of Little Data

However, little data also has its limitations, including its limited scope and potential for bias. Little data may not provide a complete picture of a business problem, and its insights may not be generalizable to other areas of the organization.

Everything in Between

In reality, most organizations work with a combination of big data and little data, using a range of tools and techniques to extract insights from different types of datasets. This approach is often referred to as “medium data,” and it involves using a mix of big data analytics and little data analytics to drive business decisions.

Benefits of Medium Data

The benefits of medium data include its ability to provide a balanced view of business problems, its flexibility, and its cost-effectiveness. Medium data can be used to identify patterns and trends in large datasets, while also providing insights into specific business problems or customer needs.

Challenges of Medium Data

However, working with medium data also presents several challenges, including the need for advanced analytics skills, the potential for data overload, and the requirement for significant investments in technology and infrastructure.

Strategies for Leveraging Digital Insights

To leverage digital insights and drive business success, organizations should consider the following strategies:

Develop a Data-Driven Culture

Developing a data-driven culture involves creating an organization that is focused on using data to drive business decisions. This requires investing in data analytics tools and techniques, as well as providing training and support to employees.

Use a Combination of Big Data and Little Data

Using a combination of big data and little data can provide a balanced view of business problems and customer needs. This approach involves using big data analytics to identify patterns and trends, and little data analytics to provide insights into specific business problems.

Invest in Advanced Analytics Tools

Investing in advanced analytics tools, such as machine learning and natural language processing, can help organizations extract insights from large datasets. These tools can be used to analyze big data, little data, and medium data, and provide insights that drive business decisions.

Focus on Data Quality

Ensuring the accuracy and completeness of datasets is critical to driving business success. Organizations should focus on data quality, and invest in data governance and data management practices that ensure the integrity of their data.

Real-World Examples

Several organizations have successfully leveraged digital insights to drive business success. For example, Walmart uses big data analytics to optimize its supply chain and improve customer experiences. On the other hand, small businesses like coffee shops use little data analytics to inform marketing decisions and improve customer loyalty.

Conclusion

In conclusion, big data, little data, and everything in between can provide valuable insights that drive business success. By understanding the benefits and challenges of each approach, and using a combination of big data and little data, organizations can leverage digital insights to drive business growth, improve customer experiences, and gain a competitive edge. Developing a data-driven culture, using advanced analytics tools, and focusing on data quality are critical strategies for leveraging digital insights and driving business success.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is big data?

Big data refers to the large amounts of structured and unstructured data that organizations collect from various sources, including social media, customer interactions, and sensor data.

What is little data?

Little data refers to the small, focused datasets that are often overlooked in the era of big data. Little data can be just as valuable as big data, as it can provide insights into specific business problems or customer needs.

How can organizations leverage digital insights to drive business success?

Organizations can leverage digital insights to drive business success by developing a data-driven culture, using a combination of big data and little data, investing in advanced analytics tools, and focusing on data quality.

What are the benefits of big data?

The benefits of big data include improved customer experiences, increased operational efficiency, and enhanced decision-making.

What are the challenges of big data?

The challenges of big data include data quality issues, scalability, and security concerns.

What are the benefits of little data?

The benefits of little data include its ease of use, low cost, and ability to provide quick insights into specific business problems.

What are the challenges of little data?

The challenges of little data include its limited scope and potential for bias.

Introduction to Real-Time Payments

Real-time payments (RTP) in the U.S have been gaining momentum in number of users, number of transactions and the growing maximum size of transactions. Even so, the U.S lags well behind such advanced payments networks as those operated by India and Brazil.

Growth of Real-Time Payments

In early February The Clearing House (TCH) announced its first $10 million instant payment over the RTP network which had just raised its maximum payment from $1 million to $10 million. The payment was by Computershare, a global transfer agent, from Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) to another financial institution. The average daily volume on the RTP network has jumped this year, from $909.2 million in January to $2.8 billion in mid-March, said Gregory MacSweeney, spokesman for TCH.

Average Transaction Amount

“Most of the higher value transactions appear to be corporations moving money between accounts for portfolio rebalancing, cash concentration or paying partners or suppliers. For instance, a large retail chain may move funds from its account in the Midwest, to its main account at headquarters, or move funds to another region.” The average transaction amount during that time was $2,510.

Challenges Faced by Fintech Firms

Although the RTP network has seen impressive growth, fintech firms that support it have been a little disappointed, said Erika Baumann, director of commercial banking & payments at Datos Insights. “Alacriti, ACI, Fiserv, Icon Payments and Volante — there’s nobody who isn’t active in this space,” she said. Vendors are working with their client banks to help them avoid disintermediation, but she hasn’t seen a lot of vendors meeting their growth goals. Instead she has seen a lot of disappointment at the pace of adoption, especially with smaller banks.

Regulatory Mandates

“That’s the result when you don’t have mandates from regulators. We kind of go through and get to it when we get to it.” Now RTP is doing great, she added, but it took five years to get to takeoff, and then it doubled volumes quickly. “It started off slow and then now the volumes are pretty impressive.”

Technological Challenges

RTP faced the same challenge that FedNow, the Federal Reserve’s instant payment platform, now faces. Banks are faster to set up facilities to receive instant payments, since receiving is pretty much risk free, but they take longer to start sending. But until a number of banks are sending, what is there for receive-only banks to transact? “RTP has to overcome that hurdle of getting enough banks sending; FedNow has the same hurdle.” She said FedNow has a fraction of the nation’s DDAs participating.

Core Banking Systems

Banks have faced technological challenges in going to real-time payments, said Nadish Lad, head of payments at Volante Technologies. It develops systems for real-time payments, including the system BNY Mellon used to send the first $10 million payment over the RTP network. “To execute that payment, you need every application, every step to be completely real time,” said Nadish. “Then the next problem is 24×7. These banks have core banking platforms which you can call, check the balance and validate the accounts are all good. But at 10 p.m., the core banking platform shuts down for a refresh, and then starts at 10:30 again.” Not exactly 24×7.

Implementation of Real-Time Payments

Banks don’t have to replace their cores to implement real-time, said Baumann. “For smaller banks, many are opting to connect through their cores, but non-core providers like Finzly and Volante and Alacriti are largely core agnostic,” she said. “It is still painful and expensive, but better than a core replacement that can take years, or sometimes a decade.” The big four banks absolutely hold the majority of the market share, she added. “Not only do they have about half of the total deposits in the U.S., our most recent survey of mid and large corporate indicates that about 67% of these businesses are banking with a big four.”

Conclusion

Uneven adoption of real-time payments is a problem for businesses, added Lad. “If the beneficiary is BNY Mellon, then I know they will receive it in real-time. For the other beneficiaries, I’ll have to send by ACH. If I added a day for everyone, no one is going to really benefit.” Lad said banks are still studying real-time payments more than acting. “Every prospect we talk to in the U.S market asks do you have RTP? We say yes, we have a number of clients who have been live for the last six, seven years in your U.S market. Then, when we ask what are their plans? Oh, they say, we are thinking about it. We will probably look at it next year or the year after that.”

FAQs

Q: What is the current state of real-time payments in the U.S?
A: Real-time payments in the U.S have been gaining momentum, but the country still lags behind other advanced payments networks.
Q: What is the average daily volume on the RTP network?
A: The average daily volume on the RTP network has jumped from $909.2 million in January to $2.8 billion in mid-March.
Q: What are the challenges faced by fintech firms in the adoption of real-time payments?
A: Fintech firms have been disappointed with the pace of adoption, especially with smaller banks, and face challenges such as regulatory mandates and technological hurdles.
Q: Do banks need to replace their core banking systems to implement real-time payments?
A: No, banks don’t have to replace their cores to implement real-time payments, but can opt to connect through their cores or use non-core providers.