DHS releases cybersecurity blueprint

The Homeland Security Department released a new cybersecurity strategy document with a two-pronged approach: protecting critical infrastructure today and building a more secure cybersecurity ecosystem for the future.

The Blueprint for a Secure Cyber Future was released on Dec. 12 as a framework for responding to evolving cyber threats.

The blueprint describes alignment of departmental activities with the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace.

It also aligns with the White House's National Security Strategy and with DHS' 2010 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review.

"DHS is on the right track to split these two missions," Jason Healey, director of the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative, wrote in an article on Dec. 12. "The cyber ecosystem interconnects each and every person and device in cyberspace, which requires a very wide aperture with heavy emphasis on education and outreach. In comparison, protecting critical information infrastructure includes a much smaller (but still dauntingly large) number of companies and organizations with different laws, including some regulatory authority."