Plans

Communities have been planning for disasters for a very long time, especially for natural disasters. The capability to predict when the hurricane will hit a coastal area or island is available. Precautions are reported to the public, and preparedness activities are posted continuously. Planning for cyber incidents is a much newer activity, and it has been getting increasingly more sophisticated as time goes on. A community plans for physical events such as a hurricane, flood, or tornado because they are in geographic areas that are prone to these threats. All communities need to prepare for a cyber incident or attack. In the early 2000s, the CIAS would hear comments such as “Our county is too small” or “No one would target us, we don't have anything they would want.” No matter how small the organization and no matter what the size of the community, everyone is a target today. Preparing for “when” the cyber incident happens is the best approach, and that means every municipality, county, and parish should have a plan in place to continue business and to respond to an incident.