PILLAR IV – CONSEQUENCE MITIGATION
DHS must limit the impact of potentially significant cyber incidents by leveraging our unique
emergency management expertise and insights from network protection and law enforcement
efforts.
Goal 5:
Respond Effectively to Cyber Incidents
We will minimize consequences from potentially significant cyber incidents
through coordinated community-wide response efforts.
As the world becomes ever-more connected, the number and scale of cyber incidents are certain
to grow despite network protection and law enforcement best efforts. Many cyber incidents do
not require a national response. But, where they do, DHS plays a unique role in responding to
cyber incidents to mitigate potential consequences by providing technical assistance to affected
entities and other assets that are at risk (asset response) and in investigating the underlying
crimes (threat response). 10 DHS responds to significant cyber incidents in close coordination
with the Department of Justice and other federal agencies. In our role as asset responder, DHS
must enhance capabilities to protect entities from additional harm following an incident, reduce
the risk to others, safeguard sensitive personal and business information, and coordinate
responses to significant incidents. As part of the law enforcement community, DHS must
investigate incidents and be prepared to identify and counteract immediate cyber threats.
DHS must also implement mechanisms to ensure that asset and threat responders, informed by
the intelligence community, share information with each other, with sector specific agencies, and
with the private sector to inform all related incident response efforts. DHS sector specific
agencies must similarly be prepared to provide sector expertise to support the needs of federal
responders, and to promote and support private sector coordination during and after a cyber
incident. In the case of significant cyber incidents, DHS must ensure preparedness across our
Components for a coordinated government-wide response and to support any related emergency
management activities. DHS must also ensure that we have in place mechanisms to coordinate
with international partners as cyber incidents, whether they originate domestically or abroad,
assume international implications.
10
Pursuant to Presidential Policy Directive 41, “United States Cyber Incident Coordination” (July 26, 2016).
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