Smart decision by Trump administration will help to keep your phones safe
Yesterday, the non-profit organization known as MITRE saw its contract with the government expire. This is important because MITRE is the organization that runs the CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) program that keeps tabs on and catalogs global cybersecurity vulnerabilities. You might have noticed that we often refer to a CVE number when discussing a software upgrade or a security issue. This allows major tech firms like Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others to monitor these vulnerabilities and patch them.
For example, CVE-2025-31200 refers to a memory corruption issue in Apple's CoreAudio audio API which is being patched with the release of iOS 18.4.1. The CVE program helps keep your devices safe to use by providing a transparent and standardized way to identify, track, and fix hardware and software issues on your phones, tablets, and other connected devices.
Deciphering a CVE number. | Image credit-Vulners.com
MITRE depends on funding from the U.S. federal government to survive. In the current DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) era, the government initiative created by an executive order has eliminated jobs and even complete agencies to stop what DOGE claims is wasteful spending. Thus, the Trump administration could have decided to end the program. Such a move would be celebrated by hackers and malicious cyber attackers who take advantage of software and hardware flaws to steal your hard-earned cash.
But proving that there is some common sense in the administration, MITRE’s vice president and director at the Center for Securing the Homeland, Yosry Barsoum, told The Verge that the government has extended its contract with the organization. Thus, as Barsoum noted, there will be no "break in service" as the contract extension assures that the CVE program will continue, at least until the new contract expires. Unfortunately, we don't know how long the extension is for.
CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) didn't give a reason why the government waited so long to extend MITRE's contract. But now that it has been extended, the organization will continue to monitor the CVE program which helps keep all tech firms on the same page when finding and fixing a vulnerability.
While you might not interact with the program or even know it exists, it helps researchers and other security experts find and fix vulnerabilities before they are discovered and taken advantage of by cyber criminals who are always scheming and dreaming up new ways to get their hands on your money.
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