Insider Threat

The United States is made up of many organizations and agencies that keep the country productive and citizens of this great nation healthy. Sixteen different sectors have been identified as critical to the continued prosperity of America. A critical infrastructure is described as ********
. One of the sixteen critical infrastructures that is vitally important to the nation is the chemical sector. The chemical sector is a broad infrastructure that is responsible for many forms of chemicals that the citizens of the country and government use. These chemicals are used in day to day life and have become very important to the wellbeing of the nation. However the United States’ chemical industry is also responsible for a portion of the world’s chemicals
Economically speaking, the chemical sector supports twenty-five percent of the Gross Domestic Product (NCMCO, 2014). These examples, only scratch the surface of the importance of the chemical sector. However, they highlight the key reasons that the
These risks include an insider threat, cyber threats, deliberate attacks and terrorism, and finally the pandemic threat mentioned above (DHS, 2015). The insider threat to the chemical sector is a major concern. One way that the chemical sector has to fear an insider threat is when these companies use third party contractors. This is because these contractors may gain access deep into these facilities, though they may not have been background checked as thoroughly as company employees (DHS, 2015). However, the risk of outsider threats is equally dangerous. This is especially true in regards to the increasing cyber threat. With technology advancing so rapidly and many systems being converted from paper or analog to digital, the chance of a critical infrastructure receiving a sophisticated cyber-attack is growing. However, cyber threats also include non-terroristic situations such as technological failures, human errors, and supply chain vulnerabilities (DHS, 2015). The fallout from a cyber threat happening to any facility could result in a theft of intellectual property, a loss of operations capacity, or a chemical theft, diversion, or release (DHS, 2015). Another major threat is the possibility of a direct attack against the chemical sector. The concern is that an attack that caused a release of chemicals into the environment could result in long term