Justine Bone Spearheads Crypto ISAC, Industry's Overdue Security Framework

The cryptocurrency sector is finally getting its own coordinated defense system. Leading the charge is Justine Bone, an accomplished cybersecurity executive who has just assumed the role of executive director for Crypto ISAC, a newly established information-sharing and analysis center tailored for the digital asset industry. With more than 25 years of expertise in cybersecurity and cryptography, Bone brings both credibility and a proven track record to an organization addressing a critical gap in crypto’s infrastructure.

Why the Crypto Industry Desperately Needed This

The timing of Crypto ISAC’s launch underscores an urgent reality: digital asset platforms have suffered substantial security breaches. In 2023 alone, hackers extracted approximately $1.7 billion from cryptocurrency platforms and projects, according to data from Chainalysis, a leading blockchain analysis firm. Yet despite these recurring losses, the crypto ecosystem lacked a formalized mechanism for sharing threat intelligence and security vulnerabilities—something that established sectors have relied on for decades.

Information-sharing and analysis centers, or ISACs, originated in the late 1990s as non-profit entities designed to bridge the gap between public and private sector organizations. They function similarly to collaborative security networks, allowing stakeholders to exchange critical information about emerging vulnerabilities and active threats. Traditional industries—healthcare, retail, financial services, automotive—have long leveraged ISACs to protect their infrastructure. Crypto’s absence from this framework represented a glaring blind spot.

Meet the Woman Behind the Initiative

Justine Bone’s appointment signals the seriousness of this undertaking. Before taking the helm at Crypto ISAC, she served as CEO of MedSec, a medical device security research firm. Her most notable achievement there involved identifying critical vulnerabilities in pacemakers manufactured by Abbott (formerly known as St. Jude Medical). That research, conducted in collaboration with external security partners, ultimately prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to issue a recall affecting half a million devices. Abbott subsequently deployed firmware patches to address the security gaps.

Beyond MedSec, Bone’s background includes roles as an information security lead at major institutions including Dow Jones and Bloomberg. She has served on the advisory boards of Fortune 50 companies and continues to contribute expertise to technology titan HP. Her tenure on the Blackhat Review Board, an internationally recognized cybersecurity conference series, further underscores her standing within the security community.

Building a Diverse Coalition

Crypto ISAC is assembling a coalition that spans the entire ecosystem. Founding members include two of the industry’s largest exchanges, a major stablecoin issuer, and several of the most respected custody providers in the space. The full roster will be revealed during Consensus 2024, the annual CoinDesk conference. The organizers also represent a cross-section ranging from crypto-native firms through venture capital investors to specialized Web3 and cybersecurity solution providers.

Justine Bone has indicated that the organization has already engaged with government officials to ensure alignment with regulatory frameworks. The platform’s information-sharing protocols have been thoroughly vetted and are already adopted by other established ISACs, she noted. A significant milestone: Crypto ISAC is pursuing FedRAMP certification, an important designation that would qualify the organization to provide services to the U.S. government—a substantial credibility marker for any security infrastructure.

Threat Intelligence Going Live

The practical infrastructure is nearly ready. “We’re going to be setting up this platform in the next couple of weeks, so when we launch at Consensus, our members will actually have a platform they can log into and see this threat intelligence,” Bone explained. This represents a tangible shift from discussion to operational capability.

Notably, Crypto ISAC is not the only new initiative in this space. SEAL-ISAC, led by Samczsun, head of security at venture capital firm Paradigm, launched around the same time with a similar mission. According to SEAL-ISAC’s representatives, their organization has already prevented or recovered over $50 million in losses for crypto users and projects—demonstrating the economic value of coordinated security efforts.

Legitimacy Through Collaboration

Justine Bone describes an ISAC’s fundamental role as serving as “a trusted intermediary that sits in the middle of conversations around security issues.” In practice, this means rapid coordination on emerging vulnerabilities or active incidents, enabling practitioners across organizations to collaborate and implement solutions swiftly. It’s a model that has proven its worth across healthcare, finance, and critical infrastructure for nearly three decades.

The emergence of Crypto ISAC, after years of planning and industry coordination, marks a watershed moment for the sector. It signals that cryptocurrency is maturing beyond its early-stage identity and adopting the institutional safeguards that established industries take for granted. With Justine Bone’s leadership and a coalition of major stakeholders, the framework now exists for the ecosystem to move from reactive incident response to proactive threat prevention.