Cyber Security Standards For Critical Infrastructure

The White House is issuing a national security memo instructing the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish cyber security performance goals for private-sector owners and operators of critical infrastructure.

The goal is to set comprehensive expectations for cyber security across all sectors of critical infrastructure at a time when private companies might be more inclined to meet them, a senior administration official told reporters recently.

The official said the administration expects the action will make a difference even though it’s not a requirement because of “the fact that it's being announced by the president in the context of the Transportation Security Administration’s recent mandate, in the context of us openly saying that we really are committed to addressing the limited and piecemeal regulation, in the context of the current environment where the threat is known and seen by critical infrastructure owners and private sectors.” 

“You look at a Colonial Pipeline...  you look at Kaseya, there is now a different threat,” said the official, listing victims of recent ransomware attacks with reverberating effects. “The threats that many people talked about have become real. So we believe these goals will be viewed differently.”

The latest ransomware attack, disclosed earlier this month by Florida-based software provider Kaseya, spread to at least six European countries and breached the networks of thousands across the United States.

In contrast with typical industry reactions to the prospect of government mandates, Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blunt told the Senate Homeland Security Committee having standards to follow would be useful.

The administration’s approach is exemplified by work the Department of Energy is doing to get companies in that sector to put specific technology in place to protect industrial control systems, the official said, noting the cooperation of 150 electric utilities in that effort and that “additional initiatives for other sectors will follow later this year.”

A White House spokesman said the Biden  administration is committed to finding innovative ways of working with the private sector and wants its initial steps to be voluntary but also signaled plans to work with Congress to secure the authority that would allow it to issue broad cybersecurity mandates.

“Short of legislation, there isn't a comprehensive way to require deployment of security technologies and practices that address, really, the threat environment that we see,” the official said. “The absence of mandated cyber security requirements for critical infrastructure is what, in many ways, has brought us to the level of vulnerability we have today.  We're committed to addressing it. We're starting with voluntary, as much as we can because we want to do this in full partnership, but we're also pursuing all options we have in order to make the rapid progress we need.”

White House:    DefenseOne:   NextGov:    CNBC:     Homeland Preparedness:     Yahoo:    Image: Unsplash

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