Critical Infrastructure Protection: A Comprehensive Report

This report, prepared for the Office of Homeland Security, defines Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) as measures to safeguard vital infrastructure and respond to incidents affecting it. It emphasizes the importance of CIP in protecting economies and communities from cyber-attacks, natural disasters, and equipment failures, highlighting the need to identify vulnerabilities and update security measures. The report outlines the legal frameworks governing CIP at the federal level, including key acts, policies, and codes of federal regulations. It also details the 16 critical infrastructure sectors vital to the United States and the agencies responsible for them. The report concludes with recommendations for city officials, including education, implementation, and training on CIP systems. The report aims to provide a comprehensive overview of CIP, its importance, and the legal and organizational structures in place to support it.

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AUTHORITIES 1
Critical Infrastructure Authorities
Name
Institution

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CRITICAL INFRUSTRACTURE PROTECTION
Introduction
Critical infrastructure protection refers to the measures that are put in place to protect the vital
infrastructure in a region. It also involves the response to incidences that occur which involve
vital infrastructure of that region or a nation. It is the responsibility of the government to protect
these infrastructures against negative events such as terrorist attacks or natural disasters
(Forcepoint, 2019).
Importance of critical infrastructure protection
 Critical infrastructure protection is important since it protects vital infrastructure from
attacks. Infrastructure such as transport, water and electricity systems can easily be affected by
cyber-attacks. This will in turn affect the country’s economy as well as global economies and
communities.
 Such risks could also compromise the integrity of an infrastructure. Events such as
human error, natural disasters and equipment failure can be unpredictable and most times are
unprecedented; hence it is harder to predict when they might occur. Critical infrastructure
protection helps to consider all possible risks when looking for solutions that identify security
anomalies and risks.
 Using critical infrastructure protection increases the chances of identifying vulnerabilities
in a system and being able to see into a number of infrastructures. This reduces the risk of
success of a pre- planned event such as a cyber-attack. It is therefore important to ensure that the
new security updates of these infrastructures address the known vulnerabilities.

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Legal framework that govern critical infrastructure at the federal level of government
Federal laws
The Critical Infrastructure Protection Act which was enacted in 2017 by the state of
Oklahoma. This law came up with criminal penalties for anyone who was convicted of
trespassing or entering property willingly that had a critical infrastructure facility without getting
permission from the property’s owner.
National level policies
The Critical infrastructure Information Act was enacted in 2002 and sought out to
facilitate sharing of information related to critical infrastructure among operators and owners of
critical infrastructures and government entities that had the responsibility of infrastructure
protection (Editorial, 2019).
The national Infrastructure Protection Plan 2013 that outlines how the private sector
participants and the national government work together in the critical infrastructure community
to manage all risks so as to achieve resilience and security outcomes (Rand, 2019).
Code of federal regulations
The Protected Critical Infrastructure Information Programme which contains 6 codes of
federal regulations part 29, procedures for handling critical infrastructure information; final rule
that were published in the federal register in 2006. These codes are receipt, validation, handling,
marking and use of critical infrastructure information which had been submitted to the
Department of Homeland Security.
National doctrine publications
The critical infrastructure protection which was issued in 1996 (Cohen, 2010).

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National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP), Presidential Policy Directive (PPD 21)
and Executive order 13636
The NIPP is a document with the aim to bring together key resource protection efforts and
critical infrastructure in the country. PPD 21 is a directive with the aim of strengthening and
securing the country’s critical infrastructure. Executive order 13636 aims to improve critical
infrastructure in terms of cyber security. All the three documents deal with critical infrastructure
protection. They all provide information on how to improve critical infrastructure in the country
in different ways (Caldwell, 2011).
The 16 critical infrastructure sectors
These sixteen sectors are the sectors whose systems assets and networks are considered vital
to the United States and their destruction or incapacitation would affect the national economy,
public health and safety or security adversely.
SECTOR SECTOR- SPECIFIC AGENCY/
DEPARTMENT
Chemical Homeland security
Commercial facilities Homeland security
Communications Homeland security
Critical manufacturing Homeland security
Dams Homeland security
Defense industrial base Defense
Emergency services Homeland security
Energy Energy
Financial services Treasury
Food and agriculture Agriculture

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Health and human services
Government facilities Homeland security
General service administration
Health care and public health Health and human services
Information technology Homeland security
Nuclear reactors, materials and waste Homeland security
Transport system Homeland security
transportation
Water and water waste systems Environmental protection agency (homeland
security, 2019)
Summary
 Critical infrastructure protection is important to safeguard national systems that affect the
country’s economy and those who depend on these systems.
 Legal frameworks have been put in place to ensure the success of projects related to
critical infrastructure protection and to strengthen, protect and enhance the country’s critical
infrastructure.
 There are 16 main critical infrastructure sectors that are considered important to the
country and are supported by various agencies and departments.
Recommendations
 The city officials should be educated on the importance of CIP
 CIP should be implemented to all the critical infrastructure found within the city.

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 City personnel should be trained on how to implement and update CIP systems.

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References
Caldwell, C. (2011). Critical Infrastructure Protection: DHS Has Taken Action Designed to
Identify and Address Overlaps and Gaps in Infrastructure Security Activities. Collingdale,
PA: DIANE Publishing.
Cohen, F. (2010). What makes critical infrastructures Critical? International Journal of Critical
Infrastructure Protection, 3(2), 53-54. doi:10.1016/j.ijcip.2010.06.002
Editorial. (2019). International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection, 26, 100320.
doi:10.1016/s1874-5482(19)30117-9
Forcepoint. (2019). What Is Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP)? Retrieved from
https://www.forcepoint.com/cyber-edu/critical-infrastructure-protection-cip
Homeland security. (2019). Critical Infrastructure Sectors. Retrieved from
https://www.dhs.gov/cisa/critical-infrastructure-sectors
Rand. (2019). Critical Infrastructure Protection. Retrieved from
https://www.rand.org/topics/critical-infrastructure-protection.html