DHS, CISA, FEMA roll out Shields Ready campaign to build resilience across critical infrastructure environments
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced Tuesday a ‘Shields Ready’ campaign to encourage the critical infrastructure community to focus on strengthening resilience. The campaign complements CISA’s Shields Up campaign, launched last February, which encourages critical infrastructure stakeholders to take specific, time-sensitive actions that reduce risk in response to specific threat intelligence during cyberattacks, physical security threats, or natural disasters in response to specific threat intelligence.
Shields Ready takes a comprehensive approach to preparing critical infrastructure for potential disruptions and enhancing resilience in systems, facilities, and processes. It emphasizes proactive measures to be taken before any crisis or incident occurs. Resilience refers to the ability to prepare for, adapt to, withstand, and recover from disruptions caused by changing conditions. Shields Ready is designed to align with and complement FEMA’s Ready campaign. Both campaign web pages will feature and link to each other for convenient reference and use.
The campaign announcement follows last week’s proclamation by U.S. President Joe Biden ahead of November’s ‘Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month,’ urging the nation to enhance the country’s critical infrastructure and remain vigilant against threats that endanger collective security and economic stability. He emphasized that disruptions, such as natural disasters, pandemics, or cyberattacks, exploit weaknesses in supply chains and hinder access to essential products during times of need.
The latest Shields Ready campaign has been primarily designed to help critical infrastructure stakeholders take action to enhance security and resilience, from industry and businesses to government entities at all levels and even individuals by providing recommendations, products, and resources to increase individual and collective resilience for different risk contexts and conditions.
By taking steps in advance of an incident, organizations, individuals, and communities are better positioned to quickly adjust their posture for heightened risk conditions, in turn helping to prevent incidents, reduce impact, and get things back to normal—or better—as quickly as possible. Being part of the resilience journey makes for more resilient people, organizations, and communities.
Launched at the Port of Long Beach, with representatives from the local community and the U.S. Coast Guard in attendance, the focused approach of the Shields Ready campaign highlights the key steps critical infrastructure organizations can take to build resilience.
These measures involve identifying important assets and mapping their dependencies to determine the systems essential for ongoing business operations. Additionally, mapping out the key dependencies on technology, vendors, and supply chains is crucial. Assessing risks involves considering various threats that could disrupt these critical systems and evaluating the specific impacts these threats could have on the continuity of operations.
Furthermore, it is essential to implement a comprehensive strategy and training regimen to create incident response and recovery plans that effectively mitigate the impact of potential threats on vital systems. Regular exercises should be conducted under realistic conditions to ensure the prompt restoration of operations with minimal downtime. Response and recovery plans should be periodically reviewed and updated based on exercise outcomes, real-life incidents, and ongoing assessment of the threat landscape.
“In the constantly evolving threat environment that our nation faces today, our Department must remain ready and agile to prepare for and respond to threats against critical infrastructure,” Alejandro N. Mayorkas, secretary of Homeland Security, said in a media statement. “The Shields Ready campaign, spearheaded by CISA and supported by FEMA, will ensure our nation’s critical infrastructure is better equipped and more resilient against all threats and hazards, ranging from cyberattacks to natural disasters. By working with our partners and providing them with the tools they need for more effective risk management and incident response, DHS is building on its critical safety and security mission and meeting the challenges of today and tomorrow.”
“As the National Coordinator for critical infrastructure security, CISA is launching the Shields Ready campaign during Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month to improve the resilience of infrastructure Americans rely on every hour of every day,” according to Jen Easterly, CISA director. “By taking steps today to prepare for incidents, critical infrastructure, communities, and individuals can be better prepared to recover from the impact of the threats of tomorrow, and into the future.”
“When our infrastructure partners in the public and private sector are prepared, their communities are able to respond better and recover faster after disasters,” said Deanne Criswell, FEMA administrator. “We are excited to partner with Director Easterly and our colleagues at CISA on their new Shields Ready campaign. In coordination with FEMA’s own Ready campaign, this new approach will help us encourage critical infrastructure stakeholders to practice preparedness and build a more resilient nation by creating plans to protect people and communities alike against hazardous events.”
The agencies identify that the threats and hazards faced by America’s critical infrastructure sector are changing with rapidly intensifying frequency and severity. More frequent, severe natural disasters; relentless criminal and foreign-sponsored cyber attacks; continued threats of terrorism and targeted violence; pandemics and changing migration and labor patterns; and growing international competition and potential conflict. The interconnectivity of critical infrastructure creates risks because a disruption in one place can ripple near and far.
Moreover, the challenges encountered are becoming more prevalent and have a global impact. This implies that the ability to withstand and recover from these challenges is interconnected with the resilience of individuals, organizations, neighboring communities, businesses, and international partners.
“We need to be certain that our critical infrastructure is secure and have confidence in our incident response and recovery no matter the threats or hazards we face. This is national resilience,” CISA wrote in a Factsheet addressing the Shields Ready campaign. “As the federal agency charged with understanding and managing risk to the physical and digital infrastructure that Americans rely on, CISA understands just how critical this effort is to the safety and security of our nation. Shields Ready is all about bringing our respective critical infrastructure and emergency management community closer together.”
CISA added that building national resilience requires a collaborative partnership between business and government, between individuals and the broader community.
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