If there were a prolonged nationwide, multi-week or multi-month power failure, neither the federal government nor any state, local, tribal, or territorial government – acting alone or in concert – would be able to execute an effective response. This bleak outlook results from understanding that so many critical infrastructures depend on electricity. As such, effective recovery cannot be expected through top-down assistance alo...

In September 2016, the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, was the scene of multiple days of civil unrest, some of which turned violent. An international consulting firm with large operations located near the heart of the protest was concerned about business continuity and the safety of its staff during the crisis. The fluidity and unpredictability of the situation made the task of assuring that security both critical and extre...

In tandem with National Preparedness Month, our program on September 29th will focus on what your business can do to build resilience - register now! Hosted by Schafer Corporation in Washington, DC, this program will provide you with expert insight in the areas of physical and cyber resilience and how to prepare your personnel, physical assets, and IT enterprise for the unexpected. Small-and-mid-sized businesses will get TACTI...

The first week of Preparedness month highlights the importance of preparing friends and family for an emergency.

Especially in the heat of hurricane season, it is critical to think about an emergency plan before one strikes. Ready.gov shares printable plans that you can use and review with your family.

Additionally, we urge you to download and use the FEMA smartphone app. The app is designed to help businesses, employees, an...

A word from your Commercial Facilities Deputy Sector Chief

How long have you worked in your sector? How did you become interested in your sector?

I first became involved and interested in the Commercial Facilities (CF) sector when I started my career with Gray Graphics Corporation in May 1997. Gray Graphics received a Department of Defense (DoD) Secret Level facility security clearance in 2010. As one of only a select group of p...

Mr. Marshall recently addressed the InfraGard GOVCON SIG at a meeting in Falls Church, VA.  This is the second time the forum has convened.  During his remarks, Mr. Marshall described what he encountered when he arrived at the DHS Office of the Chief Security Officer, and the steps he and his staff took to improve processes and strengthen programs during his tenure.  Specifically, Mr. Marshall discussed the following program a...

Did you know that data centers in Ashburn, VA serve as the global Internet traffic hub for the East Coast? Loudoun Water is sponsoring a briefing on July 12 from 1-2pm regarding the recent resiliency assessment for the Ashburn-area data center cluster. Information on research and key findings is available here. Key findings included the following:

• Internet resilience is contingent on a limited number of centralized Internet...

InfraGardNCR's CyberSecuritySpecial Interest Group (CyberSIG) met last Thursday to discuss the December 2015 cyber attack on Ukraine’s power grid impacting approximately 225,000 customers. The attackers launched a malwareattack to the power grid so severe it knocked out internal systems and call centers, disabling visibility to the monitoring center so that operators could not detect where the source of the damage was coming f...

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For the most part, we tend to accept what we see in digital evidence as being correct.   Why, from a criminal investigative perspective, we have controls in place to prevent spoliation.    In the civil world, this is more of a challenge since is the responsibility of the individual parties to turn over evidence as part of the discovery process.  What if the digital evidence in your case was fabricated?  How...

InfraGardNCR co-sponsored a program on economic espionage on May 2 in partnership with the National Security Committee of the American Bar Association's Section of International Law. Continuing a year-long effort by the FBI to educate US businesses on the threat of economic espionage, attendees viewed the FBI-produced film "The Company Man: Protecting America's Secrets." Special Agent (SA) Peter Lapp of the Washington Field Of...

On March 16th, 2016, InfraGardNCR hosted a program which took an in-depth look at home grown violent extremism, specifically examining the growth and spread of ISIS/ISIL, the call for "attacks where you are", and US efforts to identify suspected or potential terrorists. 

The first speaker was Ken Larson from the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center (TSC). He gave a brief explanation of the TSC and their purpose: to...

How is the US Government preparing for a cyber attack against the electric grid? What can be done to ameliorate the effects of a massive attack? On Friday, March 4, Ted Koppel addressed these questions and many more to a captive audience at Boeing's Arlington, VA auditorium. InfraGardNCR President Kristina Tanasichuk conducted the interview with Koppel, who also answered questions from the floor and signed copies of his best-s...

InfraGardNCR joined the Government Technology & Services Coalition (GTSC) and the Industrial Security Working Group (ISWG) for an in-depth session on the personnel security clearance requirements and processes at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  DHS components from TSA, ICE, FLETC, HQ, FEMA, and USCIS joined the discussion around the security clearance process.

The InfraGardNCR board met to discuss the Chapter's priorities for the remainder of 2015 -2016.  The Board met with cyber security agents from the WFO, director of the WRTAC, and the leadership of the WFO.  2015-2016 is the Chapter's 10th anniversary so we will plan a number of exciting events to recognize this milestone, including our first Annual Report on the chapter's activities. Additionally, the chapter will work to deve...