Refine Workflows for Resilience
Examples of Resilient Processes
For true resilience, the processes agencies
Actions like NDIT’s soothe pain from malware
Imagine an agency that has radioactive
agencies’ resilience exponentially.
practice must match their current state. offices. Although this agency typically
meets in person, continually doing so might sicken its employees. This agency must
and centralize cyberdefenses, increasing
2. Perform pilots Pilot programs are small experiments that
work remotely or cease functioning.
gauge how well large-scale projects might
Processes are foundational, then, to
agencies test resilience boosters without
work at organizations. These initiatives let
building the path agencies follow toward mission success. These workflows must
serious consequences or investments.
align with agencies’ goals while producing
In April 2021, the Defense Department
these operations must react to shifting
Defense Industrial Base Vulnerability
tangible progress. More importantly,
(DoD) announced such a trial. Titled the
developments effortlessly.
Disclosure Program, the 12-month event
Resilience is thus about dynamism. Public
(DC3) component. The pilot will let defense
needs are not static, and agency processes that cannot evolve with them may fall short of mission victory.
will run out of DoD’s Cyber Crime Center
industrial base companies responsible for producing military equipment voluntarily
disclose cybersecurity vulnerabilities. DC3
will then provide these businesses guidance
1. Centralize responsibilities
about eliminating their flaws, refining the
Centralization can fuel resilience by
resilience of everyone involved. Pilots are
breaking down the silos between
governments and their partners. Once freed
to communicate and collaborate effectively, the sky’s the limit for how resilient agencies
not limited to cybersecurity, so agencies can use them to try out any resilience modification.
can become.
3. Cooperate across agencies
Examine North Dakota’s Information
Strength exists in numbers, and agencies
2021, NDIT announced it was centralizing
agencies not only share information and
anti-malware software program.
internal and external woes.
Technology Department (NDIT). In January
are no exception. Working together,
the installation process for a statewide
assets – they also toughen up to face
Beforehand, 45,000 computing devices
Rather than struggle separately, Missouri’s
used by K-12 students statewide needed
these cyberdefenses manually installed.
agencies banded together during the
Now, school districts can implement and manage the software more easily. 22
Resilience Area #3
COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2020, the cross-governmental COVID-19 Fusion Cell released expanded dashboards dealing
A GovLoop Guide
