Welcome back to the course.
I hope you did well on the part three exam.
Let us move on now to part four of the course.
Recall in part one,
that we made the connection between homeland security and cybersecurity.
Homeland Security is about safeguarding
the United States from domestic catastrophic destruction.
Catastrophic destruction comes in two forms: Natural and man-made.
Of the man-made variety,
two in particular stand out.
Weapons of mass destruction and subverting critical infrastructure.
Despite its employment in Japan,
WMD is not easy or cheap.
And for the most part,
can be kept under control through physical security measures.
On the other hand, cyberspace provides an avenue for attacking critical infrastructure,
rendering it vulnerable to subversion by small groups and even individuals.
A particular concern is a cyber attack on lifeline infrastructure.
Comprised of the water, energy,
transportation, and communications sectors.
In part two, we looked at what
cybersecurity measures were being done to protect the water,
and electricity infrastructure subsectors.
In part three, we examined the cybersecurity measures being
undertaken to protect the aviation and internet infrastructure subsectors.
As we examined the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, the ES-C2M2,
the Transportation Roadmap and Cyber Assessment Risk Management Approach,
we learned that these different models are generally shared,
many characteristics in common.
First of all, they were
all process maturity models that share a risk management approach to cybersecurity.
That is to say, they are all predicated on a set of standards.
They all set targets and goals for improvement.
They all perform cost-benefit analysis on planned risk reduction measures.
And they all entail a process of incremental, but continuous improvement.
Second, they are all voluntary programs being undertaken
by private interests with guidance from the federal government.
After looking at the present state of
cybersecurity for these four critical infrastructures,
we are now turning our attention in part four,
to the future of cybersecurity.
Are we bound to maintain constant vigilance against cyber attack?
Or will some future changes put an end to this conflict?
So, once again, please join me as we embark on the final lessons of this course,
and take a peek into the future of cybersecurity.
And as before, don't forget to watch each lesson closely,
and try to answer the challenge questions at the end of each one.
These practices will serve you well in mastering the course material.
Now onward to lesson 31. And good luck.