Three Agencies Partner in New Shields Ready Campaign to Enhance Critical Infrastructure Security

The Department of Homeland Security, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have jointly launched the Shields Ready campaign to enhance the critical infrastructure community’s resilience to disruptions due to changing environments. 

According to a press release on the campaign’s media launch in Long Beach California, on Tuesday, Shields Ready dovetails with CISA’s Shields Up initiative encouraging critical infrastructure stakeholders to exercise increased organizational vigilance on cyberattacks and physical or natural threats. 

The three agencies’ joint campaign is also aligned with FEMA’s Ready campaign on preparedness for various emergencies, CISA said.

With CISA as its spearhead, the Shields Ready campaign has four key focus areas for resiliency building, including critical systems and assets identification, risk assessments, response and recovery plan development and evaluations to improve and update responses.

CISA Director Jen Easterly stressed during the campaign’s launch that critical U.S. infrastructure entities, including schools, hospitals and water facilities, must be equipped for response and recovery from disruptions. The agency, as the national coordinator in securing critical infrastructures, launched Shields Ready to enhance the resilience of infrastructures that Americans constantly count on, she added.