Proceedings magazine is a communication tool for the Coast Guard's Marine Safety & Security Council. Each quarterly magazine focuses on a specific theme of interest to the marine industry.
Issue link: https://uscgproceedings.epubxp.com/i/436751
22 Proceedings Winter 2014 – 2015 www.uscg.mil/proceedings Background: A Heightening Risk Critical infrastructure systems — including electricity, transportation, water, and communications — are crucial to America's economy, security, and way of life. Additionally, government departments and agencies maintain personally identifable information, national security information, and law enforcement information, and the government provides critical functions, from Social Security payments, to ship-to- shore communications, to air traffc control. All of this infrastructure uses information and communi- cation technology. Most Americans, too, use the Internet daily for myriad activities, which provides productivity, effciency, and societal benefts. However, adversaries can exploit our reliance on informa- tion and communication technology and the Internet and cause highly damaging incidents that can cause signifi- cant economic harm and the potential for disrupted infra- structure and even loss of life. Bad actors are increasingly resourced and sophisticated and have adapted to operating in contested environments. 1 Such threat actors may be highly motivated nation-states or organized criminal groups, seek- ing specifc information or attempting to achieve a particu- lar functional objective through a cybersecurity vector. In many cases, the defenses arrayed against such malefactors may be insuffcient in speed, depth, and timeliness. The Defense So the U.S. government must assemble resources to respond to this increasing risk. As funding so often follows priori- ties, the federal government spent an estimated $13 billion on cybersecurity activities in fscal year 2014. 2 The question Shifting the Paradigm The DHS Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation Program. by MR. eRiC GOlDsTein Policy Advisor, Federal Network Resilience U.S. Department of Homeland Security MR. MaRk kneiDinGeR Senior Advisor, Federal Network Resilience U.S. Department of Homeland Security Information Systems Cyber threats present an increasing risk to the safety and security of Americans, jeopardizing our economic prosperity, national security, and way of life. To mini- mize the likelihood of damaging cyber attacks, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is implement- ing the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program to protect government networks. For the first time, the federal government will know the state of its networks at any given time, identify and rank problems for priority resolution, and invest resources in fixing the most significant cybersecurity p roblems first. Alex Skopje / iStock / Thinkstock