On April 10, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released a guidance document that provides customs brokers with best practices on how to prepare for and respond to a cyber-attack. This new resource from CBP is aimed at helping customs brokers prevent, respond to, and recover from potential cyber-attacks on their data systems. The guidance emphasizes the importance of proactively putting in place plans and preventative IT controls to ensure that normal business operations can be resumed upon system remediation.
According to CSMS #55845515, this document is part of a broader CBP supply chain resiliency focus and reflects insights gathered from recent cyber-attacks and a tabletop exercise that CBP held in February 2023 in Washington, D.C. The tabletop exercise brought together representatives from CBP, partner government agencies, and licensed customs brokers to test the customs environment’s existing cybersecurity guidance and identify opportunities to improve supply chain resiliency.
In addition to this guidance for customs brokers, CBP said that it is also developing more detailed cyber-attack guidance that will be shared on CBP.gov. The agency is focusing on supply chain resiliency to establish clear expectations for both industry and government actors on processes, procedures, and responsibilities in the face of man-made supply chain disruptions. Recent events have resulted in significant disruptions to commercial and consumer activity, including shortages of personal protective equipment, baby formula, and other critical goods.
CBP believes that cybersecurity is the first topic that needs to be explored as part of the supply chain resiliency efforts. The agency is looking forward to continued collaboration with government and industry partners to improve collective readiness and mitigate the negative impacts of future supply chain disruptions on consumers and businesses in the United States.
