Who’s in Charge and How Does It Work? US Cybersecurity of Critical Infrastructure
Table of Contents
Author(s)
Christopher Bronk
Nonresident Scholar, Center for Energy StudiesWm Arthur Conklin
Program Coordinator, Computer Information Systems and Information System Security, College of Technology, University of HoustonAbstract
The protection of critical infrastructure (water, energy, food supply, healthcare etc.) from cyberattack has moved from a hypothetical concern to a very real one for the United States. Unfortunately, the cybersecurity for such infrastructure is provided by a multiplicity of organisations, inside and outside the US federal government. In this paper, the authors address how the US Department of Homeland Security and US Department of Defense have evolved to address the cyber critical infrastructure protection (CIP) mission and the issues that have emerged in doing so. Presented here is a description of critical infrastructure’s vulnerability to cyberattack, an assessment of relevant cybersecurity efforts by the US government, and consideration of the civilian–military issues involved in finding remedies to the problem of cybersecurity in critical infrastructure.
Access the full journal article in Journal of Cyber Policy.