Updated cyber response plan in the works

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is working on an updated version of the National Cyber Incident Response Plan (NCIRP). The current NCIRP has not been updated for six years.

The NCIRP provides a plan for the government’s response to major cyberattacks and is “a nationwide approach to cyber incidents, to talk about the important role that private sector entities, states, and multiple federal agencies play in responding to cyber incidents and how those activities all fit together.”

DHS has developed the new draft of the NCIRP in coordination with the Departments of Justice and Defense, other sector-specific agencies and interagency partners, and representatives from critical infrastructure and state and local governments.

Bridgette Walsh, a cyber branch chief with DHS’ National Protection and Programs Directorate said of the new NCIRP, “I think we owe it to the nation to show that there are a lot of big brains who have been thinking about this for many years and we are not all sitting around twiddling our thumbs waiting for the next attack.”

Interested parties are welcome to comment until 5 p.m. EST on October 31, 2016.

For more information about the Cyber Response Plan, please follow the links below.
The National Cyber Incident Response Plan (NCIRP), United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team
DHS Races to Get Obama’s Signature on Cyber Response Plan, Nextgov
Last chance to comment on DHS’s National Cyber Incident Response Plan, Federal Times