Subject: [Ieprep] Internet Dependency and Education for Emergency Organizations--request comments

From: "King, Kimberly S." <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 10:40:15 -0500

How can we can do more for Internet Emergency Preparedness?  I want to share
my idea with you and see what you think.  In essence, the idea is to create
a BCP for emergency organizations (e.g., hospitals) to help them to
understand the importance of understanding their dependency upon the
Internet.  (We aren't done with VoIP and congestion management; this is a
complementary idea perhaps for the back burner.)

Example of why this is needed:

In "The Internet Under Crisis Conditions: Learning from September 11", we
learned that several hospitals provide doctors with wireless access to
hospital databases.  However, unknown to the hospitals that outsourced the
service, this system had dependencies on Internet links.  Thus wireless
access to internal databases may be lost if their Internet connection to
their wireless carrier fails.  Had they been more educated, they could have
known what to ask about and done something to reduce their vulnerability
(e.g., an additional access link).
http://zoom.nap.edu/nap-cgi/rezoom.cgi?isbn=0309087023&page=21

Here's more on the same theme...

http://www.ncs.gov/nstac/NSTACXXII/Reports/Internet.pdf 
"NSTAC Recommendations to the President
· Recommend that the President, in accordance with responsibilities and
existing
Mechanisms established by Executive Order 12472, Assignment of National
Security
And Emergency Preparedness Telecommunications Functions, direct the
Establishment of a permanent program to address NS/EP issues related to the
Internet.
The program should have the following objectives:
- Work with the NS/EP community to increase understanding of
Evolving Internet dependencies by

a. Evaluating the extent of their current and future direct and indirect
Dependence on the public Internet for NS/EP mission-critical
Operations

b. Developing a thorough understanding of their physical intranet
architectures and connections to the public Internet in order to
identify and protect against potential vulnerabilities

c. Developing plans and programs to implement long-term goals
related to NS/EP dependence on the public Internet

d. Defining Internet security and reliability requirements needed to
support NS/EP operations.

Although current NS/EP community dependence on the public Internet is
modest, dependence on TCP/IP intranets is more extensive. As agencies and
organizations consider and adopt additional applications that increase their
dependence on the Internet and intranets, it will become increasingly
important to assess the extent of this dependence and to determine potential
consequences resulting from Internet disruptions. The NS/EP community will
need to be more aware of the physical topology of individual networks to
understand how dependence on the Internet may affect network operations. It
is also important that the NS/EP community determine Internet reliability
and
availability requirements needed to support NS/EP services and operations
and subsequently develop plans and programs necessary to implement longterm
goals for increased dependence on the Internet."

Anybody have ideas about this concept?  How it could be modified to be more
useful?  Do people think it is useful?

Kimberly
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