Homeland Security Department announces strategy for cybersecurity efforts

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unveiled on Tuesday its strategy for identifying and managing national cybersecurity risk.

The strategy outlines the department’s operational goals and priorities as related to its cybersecurity responsibilities. It aims to harmonize and prioritize planning, programming, budgeting and operational activities across all the department’s cybersecurity mission areas and coordinate departmental cybersecurity activities to ensure a unity of effort.

“The cyber threat landscape is shifting in real-time, and we have reached a historic turning point,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said. “Digital security is now converging with personal and physical security, and it is clear that our cyber adversaries can now threaten the very fabric of our republic itself. That is why DHS is rethinking its approach by adopting a more comprehensive cybersecurity strategy.”

The strategy includes a five-part approach to managing national cyber risk: risk identification, vulnerability reduction, threat reduction, consequence mitigation and enabling cybersecurity outcomes.

“In an age of brand-name breaches, we must think beyond the defense of specific assets—and confront systemic risks that affect everyone from tech giants to homeowners,” Nielsen said. “Our strategy outlines how DHS will leverage its unique capabilities on the digital battlefield to defend American networks and get ahead of emerging cyber threats.”

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2017 directed the creation of the strategy presented.