If just 24 percent of state chief information security officers are confident of their state’s ability to mitigate a cyberthreat, how can emergency managers feel comfortable with the looming threat? It’s a subject that emergency managers are trying to understand because the cyberthreat is here to stay and will, either directly or indirectly, impact the emergency manager.
Donovan Miguel McKendrick, cyber intelligence analyst with the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, shared some of his concerns about cyberthreats at the state and local levels with attendees at the Emergency Management Summit in San Francisco on April 15.
Cyberthreats can impact emergency managers in a number of different ways, including malicious attacks on 911 systems that inhibit response to an incident. The power grid and water treatment systems are just a couple examples of infrastructure that’s vulnerable to cyberterrorism as well.
