CISA and RH-ISAC to Run Cybersecurity Drill

Top trade associations in retail, hospitality, and travel are partnering with Retail and Hospitality ISAC (RH-ISAC) and the United States federal government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to host the first industry-wide cybersecurity exercise.

Day-long virtual exercise EX-RH2021 will take place on a currently unassigned date  in June 2021, opening with a training session on how participants can get the most out of the event. 

Participating information security teams will be challenged to perform executive decision making, operational decision making and coordination, and cross-disciplinary coordination to combat a range of cybersecurity threats that can endanger corporate environments.

“RH-ISAC is the epicenter for information sharing for retail, hospitality, and travel organizations, and as such is the ideal host for the first sector-wide exercise,” said Suzie Squier, president of RH-ISAC, in a statement released yesterday. 

“Together, with CISA and key trade associations, we’ll be able to mature our enterprise security activities as well as our collective coordination.” 

Threat scenarios participants can expect to encounter will include what to do in the event of a data breach and how to cope should cyber-attackers compromise operational technology including point-of-sale and reservation/property management systems.

“CISA is proud to support the retail, hospitality, and travel industry in their first exercise and to assist with testing communication, coordination, and decision-making protocols if an incident were to occur,” said CISA executive assistant director for infrastructure security Dr. David Mussington. 

“This exercise is essential to preparing for an incident and participants will be able to gain valuable information on how to handle and respond to an incident within the industry.” 

RH-ISAC is the sector’s operational community for sector-specific cybersecurity information and intelligence sharing and collaboration. 

The information sharing and analysis center said that the summer ‘s new virtual exercise was specifically designed “to serve and support the interests of all retail, hospitality, and travel companies, including retailers, restaurants, hotels, gaming casinos, food retailers, consumer products, and other consumer-facing companies.” 

RH-ISAC and CISA say C-level executives, including chief legal officers, chief security officers, chief information security officers, chief financial officers, chief marketing officers, chief commercial officers, and chief operating officers, would benefit from participating in the exercise.