Last time we met, we looked at how millions of people in 2003 were impacted by a major disruption in our nation’s computer systems that resulted in a blackout.
But perhaps what you didn’t know was that just seven years earlier, on July 15, 1996, the President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection (PCCIP) was established by President Bill Clinton. The purpose of this commission was to investigate the types of attacks that were occurring, study how attacks could impact the nation’s computer infrastructure and to determine the vulnerability of the nation’s computer systems.
So what happened? Well, their findings weren’t pretty. They determined that there were serious security vulnerabilities and that the federal government and the private sector would have to work together to combat the potential harm that could be done to the nation’s critical infrastructure, which includes: telecommunications, electrical power systems, gas and oil storage and transportation, banking and finance, transportation, water supply systems, emergency services, energy, financial services and continuity of government.
In response to the attacks of 9/11, President Bush created the Office of Homeland Security. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 defined critical infrastructure as: “systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination of those matters (Sec. 1016(e)).
Sounds serious – you bet! I think it’s fair to say that as our dependence on technology grows, each of us has an increasingly important role in protecting our homes, company and country. So let’s get to work!
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