The Backbone of Society - Securing Critical Infrastructure from Cyber Attacks
Brett Gallant
Founder, Technology Leader & Cyber Security Expert| Best Selling-Author | Join me on my next Cyber Security Webinar - Secure your spot today!
In today's interconnected digital landscape, critical infrastructure is the backbone of modern society, powering everything from energy grids and transportation systems to telecommunications networks and water supplies. However, with the increasing reliance on technology comes the escalating threat of cyber attacks targeting these vital systems. The consequences of a successful breach in critical infrastructure can be catastrophic, impacting not just economic stability but also public safety and national security.
As the world becomes more digitally dependent, the need to fortify the defenses of critical infrastructure against cyber threats has never been more urgent. From power plants and dams to transportation hubs and healthcare facilities, every sector faces unique challenges in safeguarding its systems from malicious actors seeking to exploit vulnerabilities for nefarious purposes.?
In this article, we will dive into the intricacies of securing critical infrastructure from cyber attacks, exploring the evolving threat landscape, the vulnerabilities inherent in these systems, and the strategies and technologies employed to mitigate risks and ensure resilience in the face of relentless cyber threats.
The 16 Critical Infrastructure Sectors
According to excerpts from an article by CISA , they wrote, “There are 16 critical infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States (Which Canada follows closely) that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof. Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience advances a national policy to strengthen and maintain secure, functioning, and resilient critical infrastructure.
Chemical Sector
The Chemical Sector, an integral component of the U.S. economy, manufactures, stores, uses, and transports potentially dangerous chemicals on which other critical infrastructure sectors rely.
The U.S. Chemical Sector converts raw materials into more than 70,000 diverse products essential to modern life and distributes those products to more than 750,000 end users throughout the Nation. Several hundred thousand U.S. chemical facilities—ranging from petrochemical manufacturers to chemical distributors—use, manufacture, store, transport, or deliver chemicals along a complex, global supply chain. End users include critical infrastructure sectors, making the uninterrupted production and transportation of chemicals essential for national and economic security.
The Chemical Sector—is made up of four distinct components, each of which has distinct characteristics, growth dynamics, markets, new developments, and issues:
Whether the company is an upstream retailer or downstream provider engaging in the transport or manufacturing of these chemicals or products, the Chemical SRMA is a central point of contact for innovative tools and information.
CISA leads the Chemical Sector’s public-private partnership and works with companies to develop tools and resources that enhance the sector’s security and resilience.
The Chemical Sector-Specific Plan details how the National Infrastructure Protection Plan's risk management framework is implemented within the sector's unique characteristics and risk landscape. Each Sector Risk Management Agency develops a sector-specific plan through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The Department of Homeland Security is designated as the SRMA for the Chemical Sector.
Commercial Facilities Sector
The sector protects a diverse range of sites that draw large crowds of people for shopping, business, entertainment, or lodging.
Facilities within the sector operate on the principle of open public access, meaning that the general public can move freely without the deterrent of highly visible security barriers. The majority of these facilities are privately owned and operated, with minimal interaction with the federal government and other regulatory entities.?
The Commercial Facilities Sector consists of eight subsectors?
The?Commercial Facilities Sector-Specific Plan?sets the strategic direction for voluntary, collaborative efforts to improve security and resilience in the sector and details how the?National Infrastructure Protection Plan's?risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the sector.?
Each Sector?Risk Management Agency develops a sector-specific plan through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The Department of Homeland Security is designated as the Sector Risk Management Agency for the Commercial Facilities Sector.
Communications Sector
The communications sector has evolved into a complex industry of terrestrial, satellite, and wireless systems with many interdependencies. The private sector is primarily responsible for protecting sector infrastructure and assets. CISA helps the private sector predict, anticipate, and respond to sector outages.
The Communications Sector is critical because it provides an “enabling function” across all critical infrastructure sectors. Over the last 25 years, the sector has evolved from predominantly a provider of voice services into a diverse, competitive, and interconnected industry using terrestrial, satellite, and wireless transmission systems. The transmission of these services has become interconnected; satellite, wireless, and wireline providers depend on each other to carry and terminate their traffic and companies routinely share facilities and technology to ensure interoperability.
The private sector, as owners and operators of the majority of communications infrastructure, is the primary entity responsible for protecting sector infrastructure and assets. Working with the federal government, the private sector is able to predict, anticipate, and respond to sector outages and understand how they might affect the ability of the national leadership to communicate during times of crisis, impact the operations of other sectors, and affect response and recovery efforts.?
The Communications Sector is closely linked to other sectors, including:?
The Energy Sector provides power to run cellular towers, central offices, and other critical communications facilities and also relies on communications to aid in monitoring and controlling the delivery of electricity.?
The Information Technology Sector provides critical control systems and services, physical architecture, and Internet infrastructure and also relies on communications to deliver and distribute applications and services.?
The Financial Services Sector relies on communications for the transmission of transactions and operations of financial markets.?
The Emergency Services Sector depends on communications for directing resources, coordinating response, operating public alert and warning systems, and receiving emergency 9-1-1 calls.?
The Transportation Systems Sector provides the diesel fuel needed to power backup generators and relies on communications to monitor and control the flow of ground, sea, and air traffic.?
Sector-Specific Plan
The Communications Sector-Specific Plan details how the National Infrastructure Protection Plan risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the sector. Each Sector Risk Management Agency develops a sector-specific plan through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The Department of Homeland Security is designated as the Sector Risk Management Agency for the Communications Sector.
Critical Manufacturing Sector
CISA identifies, assesses, prioritizes, and protects manufacturing industries with national significance to prevent and mitigate the impact of manmade natural disasters.
The Critical Manufacturing Sector is crucial to the economic prosperity and continuity of the United States. A direct attack on or disruption of certain elements of the manufacturing industry could disrupt essential functions at the national level and across multiple critical infrastructure sectors.?
The Critical Manufacturing Sector identified several industries to serve as the core of the sector:?
Products made by these manufacturing industries are essential to many other critical infrastructure sectors. The Critical Manufacturing Sector focuses on the identification, assessment, prioritization, and protection of nationally significant manufacturing industries within the sector that may be susceptible to manmade and natural disasters.?
Sector-Specific Plan
The?Critical Manufacturing Sector-Specific Plan?details how the?National Infrastructure Protection Plan?risk management framework is implemented within the context of the sector's unique characteristics and risk landscape. Each sector risk management agency develops a sector-specific plan through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The Department of Homeland Security is the?sector risk management?agency?for the Critical Manufacturing Sector.
Dams Sector
The Dams Sector delivers critical water retention and control services in the US, supporting multiple critical infrastructure sectors and industries.
The Dams Sector delivers critical water retention and control services in the United States, including hydroelectric power generation, municipal and industrial water supplies, agricultural irrigation, sediment and flood control, river navigation for inland bulk shipping, industrial waste management, and recreation. Its key services support multiple critical infrastructure sectors and industries. Dams Sector assets irrigate at least 10 percent of U.S. cropland, help protect more than 43 percent of the U.S. population from flooding, and generate about 60 percent of electricity in the Pacific Northwest.
The Dams Sector includes more than 90,000 dams in the United States—approximately 65 percent are privately owned, and approximately 80 percent are regulated by state dam safety offices.??
The Dams Sector has dependencies and interdependencies with a wide range of other sectors, including:
Sector-Specific Plan
Dams Sector work is guided by Presidential Policy Directive-21: Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, the National Infrastructure Protection Plan 2013, and the Dams Sector-Specific Plan. These strategic documents move the sector toward shared goals and priorities to reduce sector risk, improve coordination, and strengthen security and resilience capabilities.
Defense Industrial Base Sector
The Defense Industrial Base Sector is the worldwide industrial complex that enables research and development of military weapons systems, subsystems, and components or parts.
The Defense Industrial Base Sector is the worldwide industrial complex that enables research and development, as well as design, production, delivery, and maintenance of military weapons systems, subsystems, and components or parts, to meet U.S. military requirements.?
The Defense Industrial Base partnership consists of Department of Defense components, more than 100,000 Defense Industrial Base companies and their subcontractors who perform under contract to the Department of Defense, companies providing incidental materials and services to the Department of Defense, and government-owned/contractor-operated and government-owned/government-operated facilities.?
Defense Industrial Base companies include domestic and foreign entities, with production assets located in many countries. The sector provides products and services that are essential to mobilize, deploy, and sustain military operations.?
The Defense Industrial Base Sector does not include the commercial infrastructure of providers of services such as power, communications, transportation, or utilities that the Department of Defense uses to meet military operational requirements. These commercial infrastructure assets are addressed by other Sector Risk Management Agencies.?
Sector-Specific Plan
The?Defense Industrial Base Sector-Specific Plan?details how the National Infrastructure Protection Plan risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the sector. Each Sector?Risk Management Agency develops a sector-specific plan through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The Department of Defense is designated as the Sector?Risk Management Agency for the Defense Industrial Base Sector.
Emergency Services Sector
Supporting millions of skilled personnel with physical and cyber resources, the Emergency Services Sector helps save lives, protect property and the environment, and assist in recovery efforts.
The Emergency Services Sector (ESS) is a community of millions of highly skilled, trained personnel, along with physical and cyber resources, that provide a wide range of prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery services during both day-to-day operations and incident response.?
The ESS includes geographically distributed facilities and equipment in both paid and volunteer capacities organized primarily at the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels of government, such as city police departments and fire stations, county sheriff’s offices, Department of Defense police and fire departments, and town public works departments. The ESS also includes private sector resources, such as industrial fire departments, private security organizations, and private emergency medical services providers.
The mission of the Emergency Services Sector is to save lives, protect property and the environment, assist communities impacted by disasters, and aid recovery during emergencies.
Five distinct disciplines compose the ESS, encompassing a wide range of emergency response functions and roles:
The ESS also provides specialized emergency services through individual personnel and teams. These specialized capabilities may be found in one or more various disciplines, depending on the jurisdiction:
Sector-Specific Plan
The 2015 Emergency Services Sector-Specific Plan details how the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) 2013 risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the sector. Each Sector Risk Management Agency develops a sector-specific plan through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The Department of Homeland Security is designated as the Sector Risk Management Agency for the Emergency Services Sector.
Energy Sector
The energy sector protects a multifaceted web of electricity, oil, and natural gas resources and assets to maintain steady energy supplies and ensure the overall health and wellness of the nation.
The U.S. energy infrastructure fuels the economy of the 21st century. Without a stable energy supply, health and welfare are threatened, and the U.S. economy cannot function. Presidential Policy Directive 21 identifies the Energy Sector as uniquely critical because it provides an “enabling function” across all critical infrastructure sectors.?
More than 80 percent of the country's energy infrastructure is owned by the private sector, supplying fuels to the transportation industry, electricity to households and businesses, and other sources of energy that are integral to growth and production across the nation.
The energy infrastructure is divided into three interrelated segments: electricity, oil, and natural gas. The U.S. electricity segment contains more than 6,413 power plants (this includes 3,273 traditional electric utilities and 1,738 nonutility power producers) with approximately 1,075 gigawatts of installed generation.?
Approximately 48 percent of electricity is produced by combusting coal (primarily transported by rail), 20 percent in nuclear power plants, and 22 percent by combusting natural gas. The remaining generation is provided by hydroelectric plants (6 percent), oil (1 percent), and renewable sources (solar, wind, and geothermal) (3 percent). The heavy reliance on pipelines to distribute products across the nation highlights the interdependencies between the Energy and Transportation Systems Sector.?
The reliance of virtually all industries on electric power and fuels means that all sectors have some dependence on the Energy Sector. The Energy Sector is well aware of its vulnerabilities and is leading a significant voluntary effort to increase its planning and preparedness. Cooperation through industry groups has resulted in substantial information sharing of best practices across the sector. Many sector owners and operators have extensive experience abroad with infrastructure protection and have more recently focused their attention on cybersecurity.?
Sector-Specific Plan?
The?Energy Sector-Specific Plan?details how the National Infrastructure Protection Plan risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the sector. Each Sector Risk Management Agency develops a sector-specific plan?through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The Department of Energy is designated as the Sector?Risk Management?Agency for the Energy Sector.
Financial Services Sector
Financial institutions, ranging from some of the world’s largest global companies to community banks and credit unions, face a wide range of potential risks. The Financial Services Sector represents a vital component of our nation's critical infrastructure. Large-scale power outages, recent natural disasters, and an increase in the number and sophistication of cyberattacks demonstrate the wide range of potential risks facing the sector.
The Financial Services Sector includes thousands of depository institutions, providers of investment products, insurance companies, other credit and financing organizations, and the providers of the critical financial utilities and services that support these functions. Financial institutions vary widely in size and presence, ranging from some of the world’s largest global companies with thousands of employees and many billions of dollars in assets to community banks and credit unions with a small number of employees serving individual communities.?
Whether an individual savings account, financial derivatives, credit extended to a large organization, or investments made to a foreign country, these products allow customers to:?
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Sector-Specific Plan?
The?Financial Services Sector-Specific Plan?details how the?National Infrastructure Protection Plan?risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the sector. Each Sector?Risk Management Agency develops a sector-specific plan through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The Department of Treasury is designated as the Sector Risk Management Agency for the Financial Services Sector. Presidential Policy Directive 21 changed the name of the Banking and Finance Sector to the Financial Services Sector in 2013.
Food and Agriculture Sector
The Food and Agriculture Sector, almost entirely under private ownership, is composed of farms, restaurants, and registered food manufacturing, processing, and storage facilities.
The Food and Agriculture Sector is almost entirely under private ownership and is composed of an estimated 2.1 million farms, 935,000 restaurants, and more than 200,000 registered food manufacturing, processing, and storage facilities. This sector accounts for roughly one-fifth of the nation's economic activity.?
The Food and Agriculture Sector has critical dependencies with many sectors, but particularly with the following:?
Sector-Specific Plan?
The?Food and Agriculture Sector-Specific Plan?details how the?National Infrastructure Protection Plan?risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the sector. Each Sector?Risk Management Agency develops a sector-specific plan through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The?Department of Agriculture?and the?Department of Health and Human Services?are designated as the co-sector?Risk Management?Agencies for the Food and Agriculture Sector.
Government Facilities Sector
The Government Facilities Sector helps Federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial facilities identify their unique risk factors and protect against potential attacks or issues.
The Government Facilities Sector includes a wide variety of buildings located in the United States and overseas that are owned or leased by federal, state, local, and tribal governments. Many government facilities are open to the public for business activities, commercial transactions, or recreational activities while others that are not open to the public contain highly sensitive information, materials, processes, and equipment.?
These facilities include general-use office buildings and special-use military installations, embassies, courthouses, national laboratories, and structures that may house critical equipment, systems, networks, and functions. In addition to physical structures, the sector includes cyber elements that contribute to the protection of sector assets (e.g., access control systems and closed-circuit television systems) as well as individuals who perform essential functions or possess tactical, operational, or strategic knowledge.
The Education Facilities Subsector covers pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade schools, institutions of higher education, and business and trade schools. The subsector includes facilities that are owned by both government and private sector entities. The National Monuments and Icons Subsector encompasses a diverse array of assets, networks, systems, and functions located throughout the United States. Many National Monuments and Icon assets are listed in either the National Register of Historic Places or the List of National Historic Landmarks.
The Election Infrastructure Subsector covers a wide range of physical and electronic assets such as storage facilities, polling places, and centralized vote tabulation locations used to support the election process, and information and communications technology, including voter registration databases, voting machines, and other systems to manage the election process and report and display results on behalf of state and local governments.
Sector-Specific Plan
The Government Facilities Sector-Specific Plan details how the National Infrastructure Protection Plan risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the sector. Each Sector Risk Management Agency develops a sector-specific plan through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The National Monuments and Icons Sector was consolidated within the Government Facilities Sector in 2013 under Presidential Policy Directive 21. The Department of Homeland Security and the General Services Administration are designated as the Co-Sector Risk Management Agencies for the Government Facilities Sector.
Healthcare and Public Health Sector
The Healthcare and Public Health Sector relies on collaboration to protect all sectors of the economy from hazards such as terrorism, infectious disease outbreaks, and natural disasters.
The Healthcare and Public Health Sector protects all sectors of the economy from hazards such as terrorism, infectious disease outbreaks, and natural disasters. Because the vast majority of the sector's assets are privately owned and operated, collaboration and information sharing between the public and private sectors is essential to increasing the resilience of the nation's critical healthcare and public health infrastructure.??
The Healthcare and Public Health Sector is highly dependent on fellow sectors for continuity of operations and service delivery, including:??
Sector-Specific Plan
The?Healthcare and Public Health Sector-Specific Plan?details how the?National Infrastructure Protection Plan?risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the sector. Each Sector?Risk Management? Agency develops a sector-specific plan through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The?Department of Health and Human Services?is designated as the Sector?Risk Management? Agency for the Healthcare and Public Health Sector.
Information Technology Sector
The nation’s growing dependency on IT makes the Information Technology Sector mission – to identify and protect against cyber threats and vulnerabilities - more complex and important every day.
The Information Technology Sector is central to the nation's security, economy, and public health and safety as businesses, governments, academia, and private citizens are increasingly dependent upon Information Technology Sector functions. These virtual and distributed functions produce and provide hardware, software, and information technology systems and services, and—in collaboration with the Communications Sector—the Internet. The sector's complex and dynamic environment makes identifying threats and assessing vulnerabilities difficult and requires that these tasks be addressed in a collaborative and creative fashion.?
Information Technology Sector functions are operated by a combination of entities—often owners and operators and their respective associations—that maintain and reconstitute the network, including the Internet. Although information technology infrastructure has a certain level of inherent resilience, its interdependent and interconnected structure presents challenges as well as opportunities for coordinating public and private sector preparedness and protection activities.?
Sector-Specific Plan?
The?Information Technology Sector-Specific Plan?details how the?National Infrastructure Protection Plan?risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the sector. Each Sector Risk Management Agency develops a sector-specific plan through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The Department of Homeland Security is designated as the Sector?Risk Management Agency for the Information Technology Sector.
Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste Sector
From the power reactors that provide electricity to millions of Americans, to the medical isotopes used to treat cancer patients, the Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste Sector covers most aspects of America’s civilian nuclear infrastructure. The Nuclear Sector Risk Management Agency within the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for coordinating the security and resilience of the Nuclear Sector.
The Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste Sector include:
Over 3 million yearly shipments of radioactive materials. Special security measures are taken when radioactive materials are shipped to ensure the safety of the transportation workers and to prevent theft or sabotage of the radioactive material itself.
The sector is interdependent with other critical infrastructure sectors:
Sector-Specific Plan
The Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste Sector-Specific Plan details how the National Infrastructure Protection Plan's risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the sector. Each Sector Risk Management Agency (SRMA) develops a sector-specific plan through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The Department of Homeland Security is designated as the SRMA for the Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste Sector.
Transportation Systems Sector
Moving millions of people and goods across the country every day, CISA protects the transportation systems sector from a limitless number of threats and risks to ensure a continuity of operations.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Transportation are designated as the Co-Sector Risk Management Agencies for the Transportation Systems Sector. The nation's transportation system quickly, safely, and securely moves people and goods through the country and overseas.?
The Transportation Systems Sector consists of seven key subsectors or modes:?
Sector-Specific Plan
The?Transportation Systems Sector-Specific Plan?details how the?National Infrastructure Protection Plan?risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the sector. Each Sector Risk Management?Agency develops a sector-specific plan through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The Postal and Shipping Sector was consolidated within the Transportation Systems Sector in 2013 under?Presidential Policy Directive 21. The Department of Homeland Security?and the Department of Transportation are?designated as the Co-Sector-Specific Agencies for Transportation Systems.
Water and Wastewater Systems
Protecting the systems that provide water is of vital importance to the stability and health of the nation and is the mission of the Water and Wastewater Systems Sector. Safe drinking water is a prerequisite for protecting public health and all human activity. Properly treated wastewater is vital for preventing disease and protecting the environment. Thus, ensuring the supply of drinking water and wastewater treatment and service is essential to modern life and the nation’s economy.?
There are approximately 153,000 public drinking water systems and more than 16,000 publicly owned wastewater treatment systems in the United States. More than 80 percent of the U.S. population receives their potable water from these drinking water systems, and about 75 percent of the U.S. population has its sanitary sewerage treated by these wastewater systems.?
The Water and Wastewater Systems Sector is vulnerable to a variety of attacks, including contamination with deadly agents, physical attacks, such as the release of toxic gaseous chemicals, and cyberattacks. The result of any variety of attacks could be large numbers of illnesses or casualties and/or a denial of service that would also impact public health and economic vitality. The sector is also vulnerable to natural disasters. Critical services, such as firefighting and healthcare (hospitals), and other dependent and interdependent sectors, such as Energy, Food and Agriculture, and Transportation Systems, would suffer negative impacts from a denial of service.?
Additionally, both the ability to “supply water” and “manage wastewater” are considered National Critical Functions – functions of government and the private sector so vital to the U.S. that their disruption, corruption, or dysfunction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof.?
Sector-Specific Plan?
The?Water and Wastewater Systems Sector-Specific Plan?details how the?National Infrastructure Protection Plan?risk management framework is implemented within the context of the unique characteristics and risk landscape of the sector. Each Sector Risk Management?Agency develops a sector-specific plan through a coordinated effort involving its public and private sector partners. The?Environmental Protection Agency?is designated as the?Sector Risk Management?Agency for the Water and Wastewater Systems Sector. Presidential Policy Directive 21?changed the name of the Water Sector to the Water and Wastewater Systems Sector in 2013.
CISA provides guidance to support state, local, and industry partners in identifying the critical infrastructure sectors and the essential workers needed to maintain the services and functions Americans depend on daily.”
Secure Cyberspace and Critical Infrastructure
In excerpts from an article by Homeland Security , they wrote, “Critical infrastructure provides the services that are the backbone of our national and economic security and the health and well-being of all Americans. Cybersecurity threats to critical infrastructure are one of the most significant strategic risks, threatening our national security, economic prosperity, and public health and safety.?
In particular, nation-states are targeting critical infrastructure to collect information and gain access to industrial control systems in the energy, nuclear, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors. Additionally, sophisticated nation-state attacks against government and private-sector organizations, critical infrastructure providers, and Internet service providers support espionage, extract intellectual property, maintain persistent access to networks, and potentially lay a foundation for future offensive operations.?
The Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity and critical infrastructure security responsibilities focus on four goals:
Secure Federal Civilian Networks
The Federal Government depends on reliable and verifiable information technology systems and computer networks for essential operations. DHS and other federal civilian departments and agencies maintain extensive databases with national security information, personal data on citizens, proprietary information, and other important information. As a result, malicious cyber attackers target government systems to steal information, disrupt and deny access to information, degrade or destroy critical information systems, or operate a persistent presence capable of tracking information or conducting a future attack.
DHS collaborates with interagency counterparts to deploy capabilities for intrusion detection, unauthorized access prevention, and near real-time cybersecurity risk reports. In deploying these capabilities, DHS prioritizes assessments, security measures, and remediation for systems that could significantly compromise national security, foreign relations, the economy, public confidence, or public health and safety.
Additionally, DHS collaborates with interagency counterparts to deploy capabilities for intrusion detection, unauthorized access prevention, and near real-time cybersecurity risk reports. In deploying these capabilities, DHS prioritizes assessments, security measures, and remediation for systems that could significantly compromise national security, foreign relations, the economy, public confidence, or public health and safety.
Strengthen the Security and Resilience of Critical Infrastructure
Public and private owners and operators manage the vast array of critical infrastructure supporting our economy and communities. These facilities provide national critical functions that are so vital that their disruption, corruption, or dysfunction would have a debilitating effect on the Nation’s security, economy, and public health and safety.?
Increasingly, infrastructure owners and operators face new risks and even nation-state adversarial actions. DHS supports owners and operators by providing national critical functions by sharing intelligence and information, assisting with incident response, performing vulnerability and risk assessments, investing in the research and development of protective technologies, and providing other technical services to improve the security and resilience of our Nation’s critical infrastructure against all threats.?
Along with these important initiatives for stakeholders, DHS collaborates with interagency partners to build a common understanding of strategic cyber threats that can empower private sector network defenders, critical infrastructure owners and operators, and government partners to improve the resilience and integrity of national critical functions.
Asses and Counter Evolving Cyber Security Risks
Infrastructure systems are rapidly evolving to capitalize on new technology and opportunities to enhance their services, and adversaries are constantly evolving to outpace stove-piped defenses. As a result, DHS plays a critical role in bringing government, private sector, and international partners together to advance best practices and collective defenses that promote security and resilience across an expansive critical infrastructure and the larger cyber ecosystem.?
Combat Cyber Crime
As cyberspace increasingly pervades every facet of society, it has provided a new and complex domain for traditional criminal actors to engage in illicit activity that threatens homeland security. This borderless feature allows transnational criminal organizations and foreign criminal actors to commit cyber intrusions, bank fraud, child exploitation, data breaches, and other computer-enabled crimes without ever entering the country.?
The speed of innovation further complicates this threat since cybersecurity measures are implicitly reactionary. As a result, we are relying on law enforcement investigations to complement its defensive capabilities to combat this threat.
Despite diligent efforts by the collective homeland security enterprise, we must do more to deter, detect, and identify cyber criminals and bring them to justice. Accordingly, DHS is applying its extensive cyber capabilities to investigate cyber criminals and take decisive actions to shield the public from the incessant barrage of cybercrime by disrupting and dismantling criminal organizations.”
Conclusion
Safeguarding critical infrastructure from cyber attacks is imperative for maintaining the stability, security, and functionality of modern society. As our reliance on interconnected systems grows, so too does the threat posed by malicious actors seeking to exploit vulnerabilities for their own gain. The consequences of a successful breach can be far-reaching, affecting not only economic prosperity but also public safety and national security.
Addressing these challenges requires a multi-faceted approach, encompassing robust cybersecurity measures, investment in innovative technologies, collaboration among stakeholders, and a deep understanding of the evolving threat landscape. It is crucial for governments, businesses, and organizations across all sectors to prioritize the protection of critical infrastructure, recognizing its pivotal role in sustaining our way of life.
By fortifying defenses, implementing proactive strategies, and fostering resilience, we can mitigate risks and ensure the continued operation of essential services, thereby safeguarding the backbone of society against the ever-present threat of cyber attacks. Only through collective effort and unwavering commitment can we uphold the integrity and reliability of critical infrastructure in an increasingly digital world.
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