CI-1 Using Social Media to Protect Critical...

CI-1 Using Social Media to Protect Critical Infrastructure

Bob Janusaitis, CISA, CISM, CRISC, CBCP, CHLS

President, InfraGard Members Alliance Houstonpresident@infragardhouston.org

Introduction

• InfraGard Members Alliance Houston• http://www.infragardhouston.org email: president@infragardhouston.org• or• Business911 International, Inc.• http://www.business911.com email: bjanusai@business911.com

Background on InfraGard

• The InfraGard National Members Alliance is a network of 86 InfraGard Member Alliances with over 45,000 FBI-vetted industry professional volunteers serving as critical infrastructure subject matter experts in one or more sectors.

• InfraGard provides for a real-time exchange of information and expertise related to the protection of our critical infrastructure and key resources, the majority of which is owned and operated by the private sector, but protected by federal, state and local government agencies.

• InfraGard facilitates an environment to cultivate information sharing between the public and private sectors to strengthen the effort to protect the 18 DHS designated critical infrastructure sectors.

• InfraGard members also represent several other important key resources and market sectors, such as first responders, security companies, and educational institutions. Local and State law enforcement figure prominently into InfraGard’s membership as well.

InfraGard sector breakdown

Our story in Houston

• Limitations of current communications infrastructure among partners

• Hurricane Ike……• Security concerns• Ability to rapidly deploy

Key success factors• Develop trusted relationships• Use the tools to monitor and distribute your message• Realize limitations of each media and leverage all• Be prepared to engage• Utilize your staff, all employees, and partners• Have a plan ready to execute

Tools

• Google search, Reader, Alerts, and RSS• Twitter, Twitpix, Tweetdeck, FriendFeed• Facebook• Ushahidi• All Partners Access Network (APAN)

– US SOUTHCOM• Yahoo, Bing

Really Simple Syndication

• Many sites provide RSS• Blogs, Twitter, Harris County, Galveston County OEM, FEMA• Common element among diverse applications• Easy to setup

Twitter

• Has the potential to provide users with near real time information in surveillance, emergency response, and damage assessment

• Wide spread use in Federal agencies

TED

Flt 1549

Local organizations

Texas A&M University

Welcome!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cou ntries_by_number_of_mobile_phones _in_use

600 million Facebook users110 billion messages 2009 vs 48 billion 2008

Twitter use during Haiti and Chile earthquakes

Twitter feed to Ushahidi

Telephones - mobile cellular: 2.4 million (May 2007) or 30% coverage rate

Twitpix

Facebook page

Facebook group• You don’t have to be everyone’s friend for this to work!

Examples using multiple tools

• InfraGard• Copperfield Crime Watch• Deepwater Horizon• Houston InfraGard Special Interest Groups (SIG’S)

InfraGard

• Gather intelligence on status of critical infrastructure• Current participants include:

– InfraGard Houston– Gulf Coast InfraGard Chapters– Department of Homeland Security– Harris County Joint Information Center

• Outreach to other orgs in process

Twitter IMAHoustonSR

Copperfield Crime Watch

• Share information with 30,000 residents• Distribute crime alerts, BOLOs• Enables collaboration among block captains• Provides links to personal security information• Feeds from HCSO, HPD, FBI, CrimeStoppers and any other

relevant resources

Gulf Coast States InfraGard response to Deepwater Horizon• Request from New Orleans InfraGard president to quickly

establish collaborative presence for emerging incident• Enabled Houston, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Mobile,

Pensacola, chapters to collaborate and track common issues

Managing information today

• Google Reader is also a very good way to collect information

Personal communications

• Word of mouth communication is the oldest and most powerful form of communication

• We trust what our friends tell us• We generally trust what our friend’s friends tell us• Some trust anything enough people tell them

• Information in order of trust– Family and friends– Employer– News media– Government

Hurricane Ike – research by Rice University

Verifiable information vs. rumor

• Follow other reliable resources• Include people/organizations you trust• Restrict your accounts to trusted sources• Multiple accounts may be required to facilitate

communications• Monitor the channel and correct inaccuracies

Managing information tomorrow

• Aggregators are a step in the right direction• SwiftRiver – a promising application in development/use

SwiftRiver

• SwiftRiver is a free and open source software platform that uses algorithms and crowdsourcing to validate and filter news.

A different approach

• Although the general concept is simple, Swift relies on three incredibly complex technologies: Natural Language Computation, Machine Learning and Veracity Algorithms. The sum of these parts allows an emergency response organization to track and verify the accuracy of reports during a crisis, or a team of journalists might use Swift to track specific topics they happen to be researching. Swift helps surface authoritative sources, while suppressing noise (like duplicate content, irrelevant cross-chatter and inaccuracies.)

• Swift River is seen as the progression of Ushahidi, a crowd-sourcing platform used to collect massive information during a crisis, election monitoring or other events that depend on information from the public. The Swift River project is part of Ushahidi Inc.

APAN

Examples of discussions:

Technology and Citizen Reporters

• We can’t ignore them!• It is easy for anyone to report something including real time video• They can be there; before the news media or you!

Best practices

• Establish policies on use• Establish relationships with trusted sources• Geotag to validate if necessary• Consider information outbound only for official announcements

as a first step

Requesting access

Summary

• Pre-establish social media accounts prior to a disaster

• Establish ground rules, lock it down• Determine participants• Communicate processes to participants• Test processes regularly• Seek other parties you trust that can share

information

Contact info:

• Bob Janusaitis• president@infragardhouston.org• bjanusai@business911.com• 832-303-2911