What are the risks of cyber attacks in emergency management and how can you manage them?

1 Assess your cyber risks

The first step to manage cyber risks is to assess your current level of exposure, vulnerability, and impact. You need to identify your critical assets, systems, and data, and how they are connected, stored, and protected. You also need to evaluate the potential threats, scenarios, and consequences of cyber attacks, and how they would affect your mission, operations, and reputation. You can use tools such as risk matrices, gap analysis, and threat modeling to help you with this process.

2 Develop a cyber resilience plan

The second step to manage cyber risks is to develop a cyber resilience plan that outlines your goals, strategies, and actions to prevent, detect, respond, and recover from cyber attacks. Your plan should include policies, procedures, and protocols for cyber security, incident management, and business continuity. You should also define the roles, responsibilities, and authorities of your staff, partners, and stakeholders in the event of a cyber incident. Your plan should be aligned with your organizational objectives, legal obligations, and ethical standards.

3 Implement cyber security measures

The third step to manage cyber risks is to implement cyber security measures that reduce your exposure and vulnerability to cyber attacks. You should adopt best practices and standards for cyber hygiene, such as using strong passwords, encryption, firewalls, antivirus software, and backups. You should also educate and train your staff, partners, and stakeholders on cyber security awareness, skills, and behaviors. You should also monitor and audit your systems and networks for any signs of intrusion, breach, or malfunction.

4 Prepare for cyber incidents

The fourth step to manage cyber risks is to prepare for cyber incidents that may occur despite your cyber security measures. You should develop and test your cyber incident response plan, which should specify how you will identify, contain, analyze, eradicate, and report cyber incidents. You should also establish and maintain your cyber incident response team, which should include technical, operational, and communication experts. You should also prepare your backup systems, data, and resources that you will need to continue your operations in case of a cyber incident.

5 Respond to cyber incidents

The fifth step to manage cyber risks is to respond to cyber incidents that affect your systems, networks, or data. You should follow your cyber incident response plan and activate your cyber incident response team. You should also communicate with your staff, partners, stakeholders, and authorities about the nature, scope, and status of the cyber incident. You should also document and preserve the evidence and information related to the cyber incident for investigation and analysis.

6 Recover from cyber incidents

The sixth step to manage cyber risks is to recover from cyber incidents that impact your operations, services, or reputation. You should restore your systems, networks, and data to normal or improved conditions. You should also evaluate and learn from the cyber incident, and identify and implement any corrective or preventive actions. You should also update and improve your cyber resilience plan, cyber security measures, and cyber incident response plan based on the lessons learned and best practices.