U.S. DHS reshuffles its cyber office, adds two more divisions
Trying to keep in step with the increasing need for cybersecurity capabilities, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Cybersecurity and Communications will be reshuffling its employees and adding two more divisions.
Since its creation in 2006, the CS&C Office consisted of the National Communications System (including its National Coordinating Center for communications), National Cyber Security Division (and its US-CERT), and the Office of Emergency Communications.
According to the plan, the Federal Network Security unit – currently a branch of the the National Cybersecurity Division – will be split to form two new divisions:
the Federal Network Resilience (FNR) division – in charge of overseeing the implementation of the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), as well as developing and deploying cybersecurity capabilities and standards with civilian agency partners, identify cybersecurity best practices and use automation tools, and perform audits and testing on federal networks, and the Network Security Deployment (NSD) division – in charge of operating the National Cybersecurity Protection System and the Cyberscope tool, and offering monitoring and situational awareness services by coordinating managed services with the private sector.
The National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCIC) – with its US-CERT, the Control Systems Security Program, the National Coordinating Center and national level exercises – will be a division in charge of monitoring, information sharing, analysis (with dedicated teams) and incident response.
The Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) will from now on also be responsible for the National Communications System, and will coordinate public safety efforts and public-private response activities.
The Stakeholder Engagement and Cyber Infrastructure Resilience division is a newly created division that is dedicated to working and cooperating with the private sector, and includes the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
According to FNR, the realignment plan has been approved by the DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, and aims to make the organization more capable of agile operations and of forming stronger partnerships, as well as to centralize budget, finance, and acquisitions, information management and human capital.