Ageing Energy Systems Hold Huge Potential For Cyber Attack
The digital systems that run the electricity grid, gas pipelines and other critical infrastructure in the US have 25 years’ worth of fundamental weaknesses to hacking that need fixing.
That’s a main finding in a report from MIT’s Internet Policy Research Initiative by a former National Security Agency inspector general, Joel Brenner, with input from industry experts.
“Controls on an oil pipeline can use the same hardware as your teenager’s computer,” says Brenner. Suppliers make the most profit by selling general hardware components that have various uses, but they have security flaws. “We know how to fix the vulnerabilities, but there’s no market incentive for companies to do so,” he says.
Around 85 per cent of critical infrastructure in the US is privately owned, so the report says the Trump administration could offer tax breaks to companies that improve their security. That way there would be greater financial value in choosing more secure hardware.
The report also proposes a mandatory minimum security standard for critical infrastructure components. “In the US, we have a body that will tell you if the cord on your toaster is safe to use, but there is no comparable body to say, for example, if a controller on a pipeline is safe,” says Brenner.
Isolation Drive
Key parts of the digital systems should be isolated from the main network to make them less susceptible to attacks from hackers, the report suggests.
Alongside incentives, regulation and penalties could help improve critical infrastructure cyber-security, but they will only be useful for the worst offenders, says Eric Johnson at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. “While regulation with penalties can help the really poor firms, providing incentives will have the biggest overall impact.”
Another way to boost cyber-security is to improve the sharing of information between firms about the latest threats, the report says. This should be a “cornerstone” for cyber-security initiatives, says Raghav Rao at the University of Texas.
But fixing all the weaknesses in the digital systems that control critical US infrastructure will require a coordinated, long-term effort. “We’ve taken 25 years to get into this predicament. We’re not going to get out of it overnight,” says Brenner.
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