Cyber an Increasing Threat to Homeland Security, Report Says

FEMA has issued its 12th annual National Preparedness Report, which highlights the trend of the rising costs, frequency and severity of disasters because of climate change and outlines the challenges being faced at all levels of government.

The report analyzed data from 2022 and looked at trends from previous decades to identify risk factors from large-scale physical disasters and cyber threats, gaps in individual and household preparedness, and lack of building code adoption as key areas for improvement from a national resiliency standpoint.

“As threats to our homeland continue to evolve, the Department of Homeland Security will continue to meet its mandate of identifying and mitigating our country’s security vulnerabilities,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas in a press release. “The annual National Preparedness Report helps us do exactly that. In outlining the current disaster risk and capability landscape, this report will guide critical department work in the years ahead — from equipping communities with the resources and information necessary to prepare for modern homeland security threats, to improving our departmental disaster response and recovery efforts.”

The evolving threat and hazard landscape includes:

• Lack of Standardized Building Code Adoption: The report found that two-thirds of communities in the U.S. are not using the most up-to-date building codes, and that “inconsistent adoption of building codes is one of the most significant factors that compound risk and increase costs from natural hazards.”
• High Community-Level Risk: “Communities identified cyberattacks, pandemics and floods as most likely to occur and cyberattacks, pandemics and earthquakes as most stressful for one or more capabilities,” according to the report. Further, “long-term housing, relocation assistance and community sheltering capabilities continue to be a challenge in higher-risk areas throughout the nation.”
• Ongoing Individual and Household Preparedness Gaps: 43 percent of respondents in the 2022 National Household Survey on Disaster Preparedness said that they intend to prepare for disaster in the future but have not started yet, while 14 percent indicated they did not intend to prepare at all.

FEMA said in the press release that it has undertaken the following initiatives to ensure that the nation will be better prepared when a disaster strikes:

• Made available $1.8 billion in funding for Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities and Flood Mitigation Assistance grant programs to help communities increase their resilience.
• Launched, along with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, two large efforts to increase cyber preparedness, including the Shields Ready campaign and the Cyber Incidents Planning Guidance for Emergency Managers, a road map for emergency managers to plan for swift and effective solutions for a cyber incident.
• As part of its Ready Campaign, FEMA launched #SummerReady and #WinterReady initiatives to promote preparedness and resilience against extreme heat and cold.