Center for Infrastructure Protection & Homeland Security

In the News – This Week in Critical Infrastructure: Week of March 13, 2017

This Week in Critical Infrastructure we look at military efforts to increase infrastructure resilience in both the physical and cyber domains. We also bring articles that look at the latest proposed budget for DHS cybersecurity programs, as well as reports on recent troubling findings regarding U.S. preparedness in cyberspace.


Ramping Up Resilience

From the March ASIS Security Management magazine, Mark Tarallo reports on the impacts of utility outages on domestic defense installations. A GAO report recently found nearly 5,000 disruptions between 2009 and 2015 that caused a combined $29 million financial loss. While such outages can never be eliminated, DoD is in the process of exploring ways to minimize and mitigate the effects of these disruptions on national security.

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Experts Divided on Value of Cyber National Guard

Writing for CSO Online, Maria Korolov discusses industry perspectives on the creation of a federal Cyber National Guard, a proposal echoed recently by Congressmen Will Hurd and Ruben Gallego at the SXSW conference. While some experts support the plan, citing similar efforts in Estonia and Israel, others remain skeptical of expanding the role the federal government in private-sector and local security matters.

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Trump’s Budget Proposal Gives DHS $1.5 Billion for Cybersecurity

From The Hill, Morgan Chalfant examines the role of cybersecurity in President Trump’s first federal budget for the fiscal year 2018. The budget, which features cuts to a wide range of federal agencies, includes $1.5 billion for the Department of Homeland Security cybersecurity efforts on federal networks and critical infrastructure, part of a 6.8 percent overall budget increase for DHS.

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Foreign Cyber Weapons ‘Far Exceed’ US Ability to Defend Critical Infrastructure, Defense Panel Says

Federal News Radio provides a discussion of the latest Defense Science Board study on the current state of U.S. cyber defense. The report indicates that the U.S. lacks a unified national policy on deterring cyber-attacks and that other nations will soon have cyber capabilities that exceed the U.S.’s ability to defend critical infrastructures.

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Two-thirds of Enterprises Use Advanced Tech Without Securing Data: Report

FromThe Hill, a new report from Thales e-Security and 451 Research indicates that about 63 percent of security executives surveyed have indicated that their companies are planning to implement advanced technologies, such as cloud services and Internet-of-Things systems, without putting adequate security in place first. An even greater number, about 93 percent, said their enterprise intended to use sensitive data with these technologies.

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