It is no secret that Hermione revealed that the basilisk traveled via the pipes in the second installment of the Harry Potter series. When I began my consulting career with the National Communications System (NCS) and cybersecurity became the sexy cousin, the communications muggles liked to remind the cyber wizards that without the pipes, there is no cyber.
FEMA considers communications as one of the “lifeline” sectors: embedded in every other sector, providing indispensable services that enable continuous operation of all business and government functions. If compromised and not promptly restored, we risk human health and safety or national economic security. In my time as the lead for a national planning contract, we laughed at the irony of exercises that assumed “comms are up” because how can you exercise without comms? Think about the interdependencies of critical infrastructure and how closely tied and what domino effect occurs when a single sector goes down. It is so important to have a realistic plan and exercise it—you cannot rely on luck.
Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.
Sign Up Log In
