As we enter now into mid-January, one could say we are now
deep rooted in the New Year. This of
course is going to be one interesting and crazy year, especially with the
Presidential Elections that will be coming up in November. But one thing that won’t rest is the Cyber
threat landscape. One particular area of
trouble is that of the Critical Infrastructure of the United States.
This includes our water supply, food distribution system,
the national power grid, nuclear facilities, etc. One of the main reasons why they have become
such a huge target is that the technology they use is totally outdated. For example, they use hardware and software
that was developed back in the 1970s.
But back then, nobody gave Cybersecurity a concern, the main fear was about
Physical Access Entry.
One might say why don’t we simply rip out the old systems
and put new ones it? Well, this is
theoretically possible, technically it is infeasible. This is for two reasons: 1) There is too much interconnectivity now
that is taking place between the hardware and software (brought on pretty much
by the IoT); and 2) Many of the suppliers that built the stuff way back then
are no longer in business. It would take
literally forever to get new parts made again.
But another area that can be changed is in our mindset. Just like the digital threat variants, we
have an image of what is perceived to be dangerous. While they are, there are other ways we to
rethink this approach, especially when it comes to safeguarding our Critical
Infrastructure.
Here is what can change:
1)
The Nation State Actors are not the only ones:
When we hear this term, we think about
Russia, China, and North Korea. And don’t
forget Iran. While these countries pose
a grave threat in terms of Cybersecurity to the United States, don’t discount home
grown terrorism either. We never thought
that this could happen, until Oklahoma City happened. But as mentioned before, given the current
climate in this country, this is now a huge threat, which should not be
overlooked.
2)
Just don’t look at the devices:
When we think about the lines of
defenses, we also often conjure up the image of devices of all kinds, both
physical and virtual. But don’t get blindsided
into this way of thinking only. Think
also about the access to these devices.
For example, what if your employee loses their smartphone, and it falls
into the wrong hands? Are the right access
controls in place to make sure that no data can be exfiltrated from it? This is where the area of Identity and Access
Management (IAM) will play a crucial role.
3)
Break it down to the basics:
Protecting Critical Infrastructure can be a
complex proposition, that’s why people are too slow to implement any kinds of safeguards. So in this regard, bring it down to the basics. Simply start off with good Cyber
Hygiene. Make sure you have Security Awareness
Training programs, and make sure that your employees practice what you preach
to them. Also launch mock drills, such
as mock Phishing attacks to see if they are really applying what you have
trained them on. Also, make sure that
you have good Incident Response (IR), Disaster Recovery (DR), and Business
Continuity (BC) plans in place. Make
sure you practice them as well, and update your relevant documents with the
lessons that have been learned.
My Thoughts On This:
Our Critical Infrastructure will always be at risk, just
like anything else in life. But the key
here is in learning how to mitigate that risk from actually being
exploited. Perhaps by changing our mindset
into a different direction will add more power to it.
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