Washington, DC —Helping to safeguard critical infrastructure security through policy initiatives is a primary goal of IEEE-USA ‘s new Critical Infrastructure Protection Committee (CIPC). Set to launch this month, CIPC intends to look at all aspects of critical infrastructure protection, including cyber security, electric power, communications, computer networks, government services, public health, water, food supplies, energy, transportation, emergency services, and banking and finance.
“The integrity of these systems is critically important to the recovery of communities after catastrophic events such as natural disasters, system failures, or terrorist attacks, said Dr. Luis Kun, committee chair. “The optimal functioning of our society depends on our nation’s critical infrastructure.”
The committee’s efforts will focus on prevention, minimization, and recovery. Preventing disruption to the infrastructure is the first level of defense, says IEEE-USA, adding that if a trauma cannot be prevented, minimizing the harmful effects is the next step. Providing the means and methods for systems to recover from an event with minimal disruption to lives and minimum economic impact would be the third level. Security recommendations from other sources about automation, IT, and facility security follow a similar structure.
IEEE-USA plans to work with government and homeland security organizations on these issues. The group is an organizational unit of IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers , created in 1973 to support career and public policy interests of the IEEE membership.
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— Control Engineering Daily News Desk
Edited by Jeanine Katzel , senior editor