Critical Infrastructure Protection

Critical Infrastructure Protection
Name:
Institutional affiliation:
Question 1
The core mission of DHS is to protect critical infrastructure in America by ensuring that it prevents a terrorist attack. DHS also helps in reducing the vulnerability of the U.S to any form of terrorism. The agency ensures that Americans and their critical infrastructure are protected from terrorist and any other vulnerability that can threaten the infrastructure. Therefore, DHS ensures that the country is safe, secure, and is protected against terrorism and any other security risk.
DHS is headed by Secretary of Homeland Security, and it has a number of agencies that ensures its effective operations. In addition, DHS has advisory groups that play a different role in ensuring that the department meets its main objective. DHS covers broad security areas such as anti-terrorism, border security, cyber-security, and disaster management and prevention. Therefore, DHS is a structure security agency that has a wide scope of operations.
From the time it was formed after the September 11th terrorist attack, the main responsibility of DHS has always been to secure the lives and property of Americans from any potential terrorist attack. The second main responsibility of DHS is American borders including air and seas. Thirdly, the agency promotes legal immigration while preventing any form of illegal immigration. Finally, DHS is responsible for disaster preparedness and management.
Question 2
The initiative of CIP is to make sure that the entire critical infrastructure in the US is safe from any form of vulnerability.

The country knows the importance of critical structure to economic development, security and health of the people (Hemme, 2015). It ensures the collaboration of all sectors of the economy in protecting critical infrastructure.
CIP is aimed at protecting sixteen critical infrastructure sectors in the US whose destruction can cause massive dilapidating effects on security, economy, and health. The sectors include chemical sector, commercial facilities sector, communication sector, the critical manufacturing sector, dams sector, emergency services, and energy sectors. Other sectors include food and agriculture, defense, industrial base, health care and public health, IT, water and transportation. The methods used to protect critical infrastructure include training and education, a partnership between various sectors, ensuring regulatory compliance, and information sharing.
Question 3
The NIPP and NIS’s Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity have helped in advancing CIP since they were released. Particularly, the NIST’s Framework has helped owners of critical infrastructures to come up with effective ways of protecting those infrastructures from terrorist attacks. The NIST roadmap has also come with ways of improving cyber security in the future. Therefore, it has helped in advancing the CIP. The NIPP, on the other hand, has helped in enhancing the public-private partnership in protecting critical infrastructure, which one of the effective methods of protecting critical assets.
Question 4
There are a number of vulnerabilities that should concern IS professionals when it comes to the protection of the US critical assets. However, there are three main categories of vulnerabilities, and they include natural threats, human threats, and technical vulnerabilities (Robles et al., 2008). Due to environmental and climate changes, the world is facing a number of natural vulnerabilities such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. The natural vulnerabilities are always accidental and are experts should prepare for such eventualities.
Terrorism is the main human vulnerability facing the US critical infrastructure. The country has been facing a number of terrorist threats since the September 11th attack that left hundreds of people dead, and critical properties destroyed. Advanced technology has also increased the threat of terrorist attack. Hence, terrorism should concern IS professionals. Other human-caused vulnerabilities may include public riots, cyber-attacks, and product tampering. IS professionals should also be concerned about technical or accidental vulnerabilities such as transportation accidents and harmful material accidents.
Question 5
The three methods that can be used to protect critical infrastructure include partnering with the private sector, an adequate identification of vulnerabilities, and effective disaster management and preparedness. Public-private partnership is the best methods that can be used to protect critical infrastructure, especially when it comes to IT security problems. The partnership can help in enhancing security awareness, training, improving existing technology, and preparation for any disaster (Eckert, 2005). It is the most viable way of ensuring the sustainable protection of critical infrastructure.
The second method is proper identification of vulnerabilities. Due to technological advancement, the vulnerabilities keep on changing, particularly threats that relate to terrorism and cybercrimes. Therefore, there is a need to be on constant look out of the emerging vulnerabilities. The third method is effective disaster preparedness and management. There are some vulnerabilities that are beyond human prevention such as natural disasters that can destroy critical infrastructure. However, the impact such inevitable vulnerabilities can be reduced through effective disaster preparedness and management.
Question 6
To some extent, the IS professional are prepared to protect the US critical resources. The professionals are continuously being trained to adapt to the changing information systems in order to ensure the safety of critical assets and infrastructures. Both the government and the private sector employs the best IS professionals to manage the IT sector and to reduce any form of cybercrime. However, the challenge is that even the attackers are well-trained, well-funded, and are professional in the sector. Therefore, more need to be done to ensure that IS professionals adequately protect critical resources in the country. The strategic way in which IS professionals can better protect critical assets is by coming up with new and unique information system that can adequately protect critical systems and IT systems. However, this is only possible if the professional are adequately funded to carry out research in the sector.
References
Robles, R. J., Choi, M. K., Cho, E. S., Kim, S. S., Park, G. C., & Lee, J. (2008). Common threats and vulnerabilities of critical infrastructures. International journal of control and automation, 1(1), 17-22.
Eckert, S. (2005). Protecting Critical Infrastructure: The Role of the Private Sector. Guns and Butter: The Political Economy of International Security, in: P. Dombrowski (Ed.), Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder, Colorado.
Hemme, K. (2015). Critical Infrastructure Protection: Maintenance is National Security. Journal of Strategic Security, 8(5), 25-39.