Software Engineering Institute

Developing and implementing measurable methodologies for improving the security and resilience of a national postal sector directly contribute to protecting public and postal personnel, assets, and revenues. Such methodologies also contribute to the security and resilience of the mode of transport used to carry mail and the protection of the global mail supply chain. Since 2011, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) has collaborated with the CERT Division at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute (SEI) to improve the resilience of selected U.S. Postal Service (USPS) products and services. The CERT Resilience Management Model (CERT-RMM) and its companion diagnostic methods served as the foundational tool for this collaboration.

This report includes one result of the USPIS/CERT collaboration. It is an extension of CERT-RMM to include a new mail-specific process area for the induction (acceptance) of mail into the U.S. domestic mail stream. The purpose is to ensure that mail is collected and accepted in accordance with USPS standards and requirements for the resilience of mail during the induction process.