The DHS Daily Open Report, Essay Example

Are there any surprises?

Yes, the oil spill of brine in North Dakota reached the waterways. There was 1000 barrels of brine that dangerously leaked into the main waterways. The energy company stated most of the brine that spilled in the waterway causing major damage to the land. However, they contained most of the major spill of brine. The energy company was required to keep quality control processes in place to prevent spills. However, the energy company did not foresee the additional leaks to adjacent lands. The primary concerned was the human drinking water reaching the Native American ecosystems. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determines the Native American water was not contaminated. The North Dakota energy company and the EPA took every precaution to ensure the brine did not affect the lake located on the Native American terrain (Associated Press, 2014).

Are there any indications of terrorist activities?

There are no acts of violence by an international organization. The accidents were environmental problems such as the brine spill, raw sewage and spill, fire arson by local resident. However, the breach of data by Dairy Queen, which compromised over 600,000 accounts,has all the characteristics of a terrorist attack. In the technology age that we live, the threat of cyber-attacks is real threats. According to Muller (2012), we are facing cyber-attacks that include accessing citizen’s information, terrorist hacking, and cyber mercenaries that will hack any enterprise, city, county for a price (pg.2). The incident was report by the government and Dairy Queen as a frivolous hacker with no terrorist involved with breach. However, with the rash of data breach in the United States, the cyber-attacks are a national concern.

Could the naturally occurring incidents be a template for a future terrorist attack on our CI/KR?

Yes, this is a very important point in the natural accidents that occurred in the report. These incidents provide the roadmap for terrorist to avoid our critical infrastructure and key resources (CI/KR) attempts to provide a national protection plan. The oil spill is a good template for terrorist to follow to launch a major attack on U.S. soil. The number of resources from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Environmental Protection Agent (EPA), Wildlife Conservationist, Energy companies, local clean up organizations, and local authorities all open the doors for terrorist to attack at the most vulnerable times.

Do these incidents/reports illustrate that the critical infrastructure sectors are interdependent?

Yes, these interdependent relations do indicate how these sectors are reliant on each part. The example is the oil spill that requires the transportation industry to remove the oil brine in North Dakota. The highway patrol has to assist with highway traffic that is moving the oil brine. As result, the Department of Waste and Environmental controls have to send out teams to evaluate the damage to the local terrain. The communication channels are jammed with the news of the oil brine spill and all emergency agencies are ready to respond. According to Homeland Security and Emergency Management (2014),”Critical infrastructure are the assets, systems and networks, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that their destruction would have a debilitating effect on national security and public health and safety.”

Is the cyber threat a significant factor in any of these incidents? The incidents were all accidents however; the data breach has the characteristics of terroristcyber-attacks. However, the government and Dairy Queen believe it was an unrelated attack that was not terrorist related.

Are there any patterns to incidents within a particular critical infrastructure sector across the US?

Are state, local, and tribal entities dealing with incidents correctly? Yes, the best example is how the government and all environmental agencies protecting the water supply for Native Americans lands.

If you were a senior official in DHS, which incident would capture your attention for the day? Why?

The data breach with Dairy Queen is the most concerned because the number of incidents of cyber hacking is increasing. It appears to be a trend that appears to be testing the resolve of the United States and the CI/KR ability to react. We live in a technology age that the enemy has access to the same technological advances. The terrorist are just as well informed as the cyber attackers and there is evidence of technology breaches that are reaching global implications. As the DHS official, I would be put a red alert on any and every cyber-attack.Our daily life, economic vitality, and national security depend on a stable, safe, and resilient cyberspace. We rely on this vast array of networks to communicate and travel, power our homes, run our economy, and provide government services. According to Homeland Security (2014),”Yet cyber intrusions and attacks have increased dramatically over the last decade, exposing sensitive personal and business information, disrupting critical operations, and imposing high costs on the economy.”

After reading this, what would keep you awake at night?

The Cyber-attacks keep me awake. The cyber-attacks are becoming more common every day. It appears on the news it taken very lightly and contributed to the experience of a local hacker. It appears that the data breaches are considered to be efforts to steal personal identification for profit. However, the distinct patterns show the parameters of cybersecurity in the United States is being tested every day. According to Nextgov.com (2014),there are thousands of cyber-attacks:

• The energy company BP says it suffers 50,000 attempts cyberintrusion a day.
• The Pentagon reports getting 10 million attempts a day.
• The National Nuclear Security Administration, an arm of the Energy Department, also records 10 million hacks a day.
• The United Kingdom reports 120,000 cyber incidents a day.
• Utah says it faces 20 million attempts a day — up from 1 million a day two years ago.

Reference

Associated Press. (2014). Oil byproduct that spilled in North Dakota extends 2 miles. Retrieved October 14, 2014 from http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/7/11/north-dakota- saltwaterspill.html

Homeland Security. (2014). Cybersecurity overview. Retrieved on October 14, 2014 from http://www.dhs.gov/cybersecurity-overview

Homeland Security and Emergency Management. (2014).Critical infrastructure and key resources. Retrieve on October 14, 2014 from https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/hsem/homeland-security/Pages/critical-infrastructure.aspx

Mueller. R. (2014).RSA cyber security conference: Speeches. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/combating-threats-in-the-cyber-world-outsmarting terrorists-hackers-and-spies

Nextgen.com (2014).How many cyber-attacks hit the United States in the last year. Retrieved from http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2013/