DISCUSSION 7
Critical infrastructure includes a great many areas of concern and focus. Thinking back to risk
and mitigation, these two areas tie directly to critical infrastructure protection, don’t they? Within
mitigation, we discussed two ways to mitigate: structural and non-structural efforts.
What do you believe is our most vulnerable critical infrastructure (choose any you
wish except the border)?
Why do you say this?
How would you enhance security regarding this type of infrastructure?
Remember there are two types of mitigation efforts.
The second part of this discussion deals specifically with border security and immigration policy.
How secure are our borders?
Is it important to secure our borders, and if so, why, or why not?
What would you propose to better secure our borders?
Critical infrastructure
Critical structure are not just highways and transportation but include agriculture, water,
food, emergency services, public health, government, information and telecommunication,
banking and finance, defense industrial base, postal and shipping, chemicals, and hazardous
materials, made up of public and private institutions (Nemeth, 2017). All those sectors are a
potential terrorist’s targets, due to the damage it can bring to our nation. The common thing to all
critical structures is their control system, cyberspace (Nemeth, 2017). Every company nowadays
uses the internet for numerous services, and they all rely on the safe use of network systems,
which is becoming increasingly challenging due to the continuing sophistication of our
adversaries that want to cripple our nation.
The Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which falls under the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is responsible for protection of critical infrastructure
and strengthening the cybersecurity (Cyber Security & Infrastructure Security Agency, n.d.).
CISA cooperates with public and private companies at every level, and assists them in the
protection against all threats, especially those against critical infrastructure (CISA, n.d.).
CISA identified 16 critical infrastructure sectors that are of the most importance and an
attack on any one of them would harm the nation’s safety (CISA, n.d.a). I believe the energy
sector is the most vulnerable one. Either terrorist or natural hazards, taking out the energy sector,
other sectors become vulnerable too. The energy infrastructure is comprised of three sections,
electricity, oil, and natural gas, and those are needed for people to live, for transport, in power
plants, hospitals, etc. (CISA, n.d.b). CISA recognizes the vulnerability of the energy sector and is
improving its preparedness and security. They mention cooperation between agencies and
information sharing, as well as cybersecurity and infrastructure protection training abroad
(CISA, n.d.b). Since all networks are interconnected, communication and information sharing
between the private sector and the government is crucial, as well as cooperation with other
countries since cyberterrorism occurs through multiple countries, people are plotting attacks
from various parts of the world; hence, to be able to identify and catch the attackers we need
worldwide law enforcement cooperation (Gunzel, 2017). Another security enhancement is more
network security for all sectors to protect against cyber threats. To add more security to the
network, we could add dual access points in a way that we have in the military. To connect to the
internet, we have a physical point and a password protected access point. For physical points, we
use our government identification card and a password that we create, which we must change
quarterly just in case of any breach. Another solution would be the limitations to the Internet
protocol (IP) addresses, meaning that IPs from other countries would not be able to access
networks in the U.S. For example, if we are aware that most cyberattacks come from Russian IP
addresses we could put in the security control to forbid access to anyone whose IP address is
connected to that location. Lastly, public and employee awareness can play a significant role in
protecting the public and individuals from cyberattacks. Krishan focused on solutions for
corporations and proposed better and more thorough data encryption, employee training, so they
know what to look for and be careful about, and an establishment of an incident response team.
The incident response team’s job is to respond to the attack as quickly as possible and contain it.
The team consists of analysts, researchers, and incident response managers. The data they gather
can potentially help them to prevent future attacks and that can save the company a lot of
resources (2018).
Border security and immigration policy
United States shares 7,000 miles of border with Canada and Mexico (DHS, n.d.). The
main reason for borders and top priority is to keep terrorists, illegal weapons, drugs, and illegal
imports from entering the country, at the same time greeting tourists (DHS, n.d.). The fact the
DHS agents apprehend more than 1,000 people every day, for various violations, proves the
borders are secure (DHS, n.d.). Secure borders are necessary for homeland security, and
economic growth (DHS, n.d.).
Despite all the safety measures in place for border protection, the terrorists are getting
smarter and more innovative, thus we must keep up with the security as well. As mentioned
earlier, intelligence and cooperation with countries that Unites States shares borders with is
crucial (DHS, n.d.). Since people can cross the border through other means, water, air,
underground, invest in drones to “police” the areas, modernize ports of entry, keep on updating
technology, use radars, etc. (DHS, n.d.).
References
Cyber Security & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). (n.d.). Infrastructure security.
Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://www.cisa.gov/infrastructure-security
Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). (n.d.-a). Critical Infrastructure
Sectors. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://www.cisa.gov/infrastructure-sectors
Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). (n.d.-b). Energy Sector. Retrieved
October 23, 2022, from https://www.cisa.gov/energy-sector
Department of Homeland Security (DHS). (n.d.). Border Security. Department of Homeland
Security. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://www.dhs.gov/topics/border-security
Gunzel, J. A. (2017). Tackling the Cyber Threat: The Impact of the Dod’s “Network Penetration
Reporting and Contracting for Cloud Services” Rule on Dod Contractor Cybersecurity.
Public Contract Law Journal, 46(3), 687-712).
Krishan, R. (2018). Corporate Solutions to Minimize Expenses from Cyber Security Attacks in
the United States. Journal of Internet Law, 21(11), 16-19.
Nemeth, C. P. (2017). Homeland security: An introduction to principles and practices (3rd ed.).
Boca Raton, FL: Taylor & Francis (CRC Press).
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