CISA Protects and Promotes Infrastructure Security Behind the Scenes
As most people likely know, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plays a critical role in protecting our nation from external and internal threats toward citizen safety and general well-being. What is lesser known is an agency within DHS focuses solely on mitigating risks to and protecting critical infrastructure, as well as serving as the nation’s risk advisor.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) coordinates efforts across the 16 critical infrastructure sectors, and partners with public and private sectors, academia, and state, local, tribal, and territorial partners to foster the development and utilization of best practices and secure technologies. These collaborative relationships promote increased security and resiliency across the nation’s critical systems. A few areas of focus include active shooter preparedness, chemical security, school safety and security, which Gallaher provides security products and services in support of.
At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, CISA played a key role in determining which businesses could remain open and operational (for regional travel as an example) and Gallaher, as a life safety services provider, was one such company that continued to serve clients and actually displayed CISA letters explaining our classification in our service vehicle windshields. In addition to fire alarm installation, inspection, testing, monitoring, and service, Gallaher also had the need to service and support school, government, healthcare, industrial, and other commercial systems to keep our clients operational and safe.
CISA offers a variety of free programs, resources, and services to assess risk environments and related cybersecurity needs. For example, they list “bad practices” that can present added cyberthreat risks for organizations. These resources are available to public and private sector entities to further CISA’s mission of providing a national approach to protect critical infrastructure and minimize cybersecurity threats.
To learn more, visit www.cisa.gov/cybersecurity
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