The Department of Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland Security DHS comprises of 16 critical infrastructure sectors (Radvanovsky, & McDougall, 2018). Private and government-industry shares the responsibility of securing critical infrastructure and the protection of critical resources. Best practices that contribute to overall security and safety practices need to utilize infrastructure that requires focusing on every structure—securing critical infrastructure. First private owners and manufacturers should apply best practices for their cybersecurity to their information system and industrial control systems.

Secondly, technologies should be used in the emergency service sector; for instance, the intensive use of social media to get updates and alerts. Also, the Defense Industrial Base sector should have its users vigilant who utilize internet-connected technologies. Communication sector personnel should keep their machine with current and updated anti-malware software. For the commercial facilities sector, they need to be aware of potential threats on the point of sale systems (Radvanovsky, & McDougall, 2018).

The self-existing self-policing/regulatory paradigm has been effective in its role of protecting critical infrastructure; however, the federal government should chip in to make it more effective. The federal system has two parts, namely infrastructure Security Agency and cybersecurity (Lewis, 2019). Cybersecurity plays a key role in protecting cyber and physical threats. It also protects infrastructures against cyber-attacks and works with the federal government to provide incident response services, cybersecurity tools, and assessment capabilities in securing government networks.

I support more government control, and this is because the government has had firm presidential decision directives, which has the responsibility to protect the nation against intentional acts that threaten the nation’s security that would otherwise not be protected by the private sector. U.S private and public sector partners together to guard the critical infrastructure against external threats. They have been created and employed widely by the U.S to deal with a range of issues, including security-related matters. The partnership collaborates and device methods to counteract cyber threats (Lewis, 2019). The public-private partnership has been effective since the private sector has the responsibility to enhance the security of the nation’s most critical infrastructure while the government’s role is to ensure effective oversight and compliance.

Cybersecurity threats and attacks have been on the rise; therefore, the public, together with the private sector, should work hand in hand to counter the attacks. The private industry should work collectively with the government to come up with information systems that are less vulnerable to cyber-attacks. The private sector plays a critical role in the success of the Department of Homeland Security. Now that the private sector owns more than 85% of critical infrastructure, the future making of DHS policies and regulations will be easier and more productive (Lewis, 2019). Having government and private sector working together will make DHS policies easier, leading to better coordination that facilitate planning, information exchange, and situational awareness between the private and public sector.

References

Lewis, T. G. (2019). Critical infrastructure protection in homeland security: defending a networked nation. John Wiley & Sons.

Radvanovsky, R. S., & McDougall, A. (2018). Critical infrastructure: homeland security and emergency preparedness. CRC press.