Critical infrastructure has grown to be a national disaster in the United States thus affecting the U.S economy and Security. For many years, the evident deteriorating in the U.S infrastructure has spurred the need to address the cybersecurity issues and infrastructure protection. To address the issue, critical infrastructure protection (CIP) was enacted by President Bill Clinton in 1998 to prevent more damages (Moteff, 2015). The critical infrastructure protection unit was therefore mandated to address both the internal and external security issues that affect the critical infrastructure. The anthropogenic, critical information and critical issues that affect the modern society are referred to as critical infrastructures. These catastrophic issues threaten the security of any nation since they can cause much damage to the economy of the very nation. The losses incurred as a result of the critical issues are unbearable (Moteff, 2015). Hence the United States government often aims at putting up remedies to prevent the occurrence of such disasters.
The efforts to protect the critical infrastructural have been experiencing many shortcomings due to lack of consensus between the responsible agencies (Volonino & Robinson, 2004). There are 17 critical infrastructural sectors in the United States economy. These sectors include the energy systems, dams, defense base, national monuments and icons, commercial facilities, information technology, governmental facilities, communication sector, banking and finance sectors, postal and shipping and many other sectors. These sectors interrelate, hence, for them to effectively function well they must coordinate effectively. The U.S. government has strived to ensure the department function effectively through the Critical Infrastructure Protection. CIP evaluate all the vulnerable threats affecting the nation and create awareness to the people and the government so as to manage the disaster through public or private sponsorship.
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CIP is tasked to identify all the potential and growing natural or human-made critical infrastructure cyber-attacks and threats that affect the security of the nation. Remarkably, after President Bill Clinton amended the Presidential Decision Directive-39 after the bombing of Oklahoma City, CIP has played a vital role in ensuring such calamities do not happen again. The office of the Attorney General has also been relevant in the critical infrastructure through critiquing the United States government for ignoring the numerous disasters in the physical infrastructure and the cyber-infrastructure. Through the respective efforts, the Presidential Policy Directive-21 was signed into law in 2013 to strengthen the resilience and security of the critical infrastructures and a national protection framework (The White House, 2013). The document aimed at specifying and reevaluate which companies should provide critical infrastructure protection (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, NIPP 2013).
Improving Critical infrastructure protection involve various processes. The IT components need to manage and enhance data sharing between the private sectors and government. This will ensure all the information to the private sector from the government are tracking. NSS infer that when the United States government share its data to the private companies the economic security of the country will be protected since the private sectors will be defending their assets too. Sharing of information, therefore, improve the bi-directional sharing of data thus strengthening the critical infrastructure protection.
The National Cybersecurity and Communication Integration Center (NCCIC) is also tasked to ensure cybersecurity infrastructure is attained (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, NIPP 2013). Cyberinfrastructure works along with the physical infrastructure to ensure both centers work closely as a joined risk management response. The two centers work under the United States Homeland security department to provide situational cognizance which features the imminent threats, emerging trends and occurrences status which affects critical infrastructure (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). The cybersecurity target to combat terrorist attacks through creating of awareness and responding to such issues promptly. Consequently, the Defense department further specifies the standards of acquisition of the cybersecurity for the private sectors and infrastructure providers for military purpose (Department of Homeland Security, 2013). For instance, the cybersecurity providers should continuously monitor the industrial systems to access the economic status of the nation.
The success of critical infrastructure protection and cybersecurity depends with the effort enacted on implementation and evaluation of the set policies. In each sector, the critical infrastructures should be addressed with the set of strategies to achieve long-term goals to combat the future threats. For instance, the United States Critical Water and wastewater sector aim at providing clean water services to the United States population so as to solve the water shortage issues (Department of Homeland Security: Water and Wastewater sector, 2013). Furthermore, the water systems are protected from vulnerable attacks like pollution, cyber-attacks, and contamination. This results in better access to clean water services and protection of the environment.
The energy sector also plays a vital role as a critical infrastructure in the United States Economy. The Presidential Policy Directive-21 declared the energy sector as uniquely critical sector since all the other sectors depend on it (The White House, 2013). The Department of Homeland Security: Energy Sector (2013) established that the private sectors control more than 80% of the energy infrastructure since they supply both electrical power to homes and industries and fuel for the transport industry. The sector has further divisions ranging from electricity, natural gases to oil products. Therefore, the private sector set strategies to combat the possible threats to the energy infrastructure.
For the fight against resilient critical infrastructure threats to succeed, the respective agencies should develop plans to protect each sector since the catastrophic differ from sector to sector. Furthermore, private investors should collaborate with the government to successively establish the specific policies that will solve the issue of cybercrime and security. The government should also facilitate further research on the critical infrastructure sectors to ensure each sector is well handled.
References
Department of Homeland Security. (2013). Energy sector: Sector overview . Retrieved on 12 November 2018, from http://www.dhs.gov/energy-sector
Department of Homeland Security. (2013). Water and wastewater systems sector: Sector overview . Retrieved on 12 November 2018, from http://www.dhs.gov/water-and-wastewater-systems-sector
Moteff, J. D. (2015). Critical infrastructures: Background, policy, and implementation. Congressional Research Service Report . Retrieved on 12 November 2018, from https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL30153.pdf
The White House. (2013). Presidential policy directive 21: Critical infrastructure security and resilience . Retrieved on 12 November 2018, from http ://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/12/presidential-policy-directive-critical-infrastructure-security-and-resil.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, (NIPP). (2013). Partnering for Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience. . Retrieved on 12 November 2018, from http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/NIPP%202013_Partnering%20for%20Critical%20Infrastructure%20Security%20and%20Resilience_508_0.pdf
Volonino, L. & Robinson, S. R. (2004). Principles and practice of information security . Pearson Prentice Hall.
