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Description
Critical infrastructure facilities allow the United States and other nations to run smoothly every day. Many critical infrastructure facilities that use Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are susceptible to a cyber-attack. Among the plethora of facilities that use SCADA systems are: electric grids, nuclear power plants, water treatment facilities, transportation, etc. These Industrial Control Systems (ICS) then commonly feed into response and management systems mandated by the Department of Homeland Security for protecting United States assets and people and responding to natural and manmade events. Enhancing the US national SCADA/ICS protection is becoming more and more important as the interconnectivity of the national and the world is expanding with the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) with the known risks and threats continuing to rise. Creating and providing in-depth Cyber Security and Cyber Hygiene recommendations will allow privately owned Critical Infrastructure (CI) facilities using SCADA/ICS the tools to prevent cyber-attacks from occurring. Finding ways to further the Cybersecurity of SCADA and ICS systems will benefit the public and the owners of the systems, as more and more attacks continue to occur via the profoundly interconnected nature of today’s internet. New solutions are very promising such as enhancing major public-private partnerships like the FBI InfraGard and potentially new national bodies like the Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity and Emergency Response or other specialized agencies. Private-sector and government professional organizations and conferences focused on SCADA and ICS are also leading the nation and world in being better prepared and learning from the attacks or mishaps that have impacted others. Turning security recommendations of SCADA/ICS provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) into requirements will better prepare the workers of CI facilities for cyber-attacks. Turning the recommendations into requirements will also strengthen the government contracts that are meant to perform security audits on the CI facilities.
