The United States is one of the countries that has invested a lot into its citizens' and nations' security globally. The move is informed by the fact that terrorism among other insecurities, has become a major security threat globally. New cases of terrorism in different parts of the world are reported oftenly and hence the need to ensure that a country invests in security to keep the citizens safe from such life threatening events. This essay will focus on the functions of the national infrastructure and Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience and the need for creating insider threats protocol in conjunction with the assessment of the potential terrorism and countermeasures put in place.
The National Infrastructure Protection Plan and Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience
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The National Infrastructure Protection Plan's primary function is to provide coordinated approaches and strategies for establishing national priorities,goals and the necessities for the critical infrastructure, and critical resources (Lewis, 2019). Additionally, the National Infrastructure Protection Plan also ensures the risks, threats, and vulnerabilities associated with critical infrastructure and critical resources are minimized or prevented. Further, The National Infrastructure Protection Plan also ensures overarching issues that are relevant and vital to all the sectors associated with critical infrastructure and critical resources are addressed. Additionally, the institution is also essential in addressing physical, cyber, and human elements needed to establish and enact programs and resiliency approaches. Other functions include security to transportation, water, communications, and energy. Furthermore, this aspect means that if any of the entities are disrupted, then the whole operation of the Critical Infrastructure Security And Resilience will be affected.
The Need for Companies to Understand and Create Protocols for Insider Threats
The number of insider threats has always been rising, with the numbers worsening each day and night. Serious breaches of data can occur at any given time within a company, with the major risks for these threats being the company's employees.These forms of threats are often challenging to fight as they can easily go unnoticed, and nobody would ever suspect a thing (Silic & Back, 2016). Therefore, companies need to take note and create a protocol for insider threats. Many insider threats do not entirely have to be intentional since they can also result from a company's poor cybersecurity strategies. Further, creating awareness of the issues is not enough since the company also needs to develop an effective protocol for mitigating the problem.
Some of the aspects that worsen the rise of insider threats include the growth of remote work placements making it more challenging for the company's cybersecurity body to monitor data and information. Therefore, it would be very challenging for awareness of the security need to solve the challenge (Silic & Back, 2016). Several components should be incorporated in an insider threats protocol such as intelligent threat detection, threat response, user access management, security awareness training, and secure website gate away. Other than implementing the given components, each employee must be given a role to ensure that the security of the organization is maintained at all times.
The United States and Potential Terrorism
Internal and external terrorism possibilities are imminent to the United States even though many laws and legislation are put across to deal with the challenge. The legislations and acts established for counterterrorism initiatives were successful at the beginning of their inception but have grown weaker within passing years. Domestic terrorism is one of the potential insecurities in the United States carried out by the right-wing group terrorists who work under racial supremacy to establish antigovernment and antiregulatory activities and beliefs (Lewis, 2019). Additionally, the other side of the coin also includes a terrorist from the left-wing who threatens the nation's citizens' security.
The development and use of mass destruction weapons are also an imminent terrorist threat to the United States. Moreover, with the advancement of technology, there is a rise in the manufacture of deadly weapons such as nuclear weapons and biological weapons capable of mass destruction. Further, cyber and national infrastructure terrorism is also a great concern to the United States' security (Carter & Fay, 2019). Incidences of cyber terrorism have been on the rise in the past few years posing a significant challenge for the United States' security. Nonetheless, the number of cybersecurity terrorism is expected to rise in the near future if mitigative measures will not be put in place. Nevertheless, other than international cybersecurity threats, national terrorists are also finding new ways and technologies to cause insecurities.
Several measures have been put in place by the United States of America to curb such threats. For instance, the FBI counterterrorism center is responsible for fighting both international and national acts of terrorism. Furthermore, the body carries out twenty-four hours of surveillance to ensure no form of security threat to the citizens. Further, the United States' FBI laboratory, on the other hand, is also useful in carrying out extensive research on effective counterterrorism measures as a mitigating measure (Carter & Fay, 2019). Future national and international counterterrorism measures include the establishment of data encryption technologies that minimize cybersecurity issues. Nonetheless, joint terrorism task forces are also effective measures that the United States have to deal with national and international terrorism. Therefore, regarding the strategies put in place, the U.S has effective counterterrorism measures in curbing the threats that are imminent in the future.
Lastly, even with the existing measures, the United States still needs to always focus on the most current security threats that may disrupt the United States' well-being. Moreover, with the rapidly changing environment, there is a higher possibility that terrorists might find new ways to fight or breach these measures. Therefore, it is advisable that the security body expands and enhances its programs periodically.
References
Carter, B., & Fay, E. M. (2019). Responding to terror: An empirical analysis of US military activity, public opinion, and transnational terrorism. Journal of Applied Security Research , 14 (2), 140-168.
Lewis, T. G. (2019). Critical infrastructure protection in homeland security: defending a networked nation . John Wiley & Sons.
Silic, M., & Back, A. (2016). The dark side of social networking sites: Understanding phishing risks. Computers in Human Behavior , 60 , 35-43.
