Christopher Krebs, undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security’s National Protection and Programs Directorate, has said the NPPD aims to delve into the roles of various private industries in critical infrastructure, Federal News Network reported Thursday.
He noted during a Unisys-hosted event that the NPPD seeks to understand the functions and offerings of different industry sectors before collaborating with them for cybersecurity purposes through the National Risk Management Center.
“One of the mottos is: ‘We’re going to do big things here, but we’re going to build on small things to get to those big things’,†Krebs added.
The center will initially house partnerships with the finance, telecommunications and energy industries to address existing and potential concerns in cybersecurity.
The NRMC will eventually expand to host collaborations with a total of 16 private industries.
Meanwhile, the NPPD also plans to look into the public’s confidence in the government’s cybersecurity efforts for the upcoming elections as a 2018 Unisys Security Index indicated that some Americans would refuse to vote due to cyber issues.
Krebs said there is a need to address the psychosocial side of cybersecurity as it has become a “destabilizing threat sector” to the U.S. government and democracy.