Infrastructure Protection Readings
The following news articles and reports from the last few weeks may be read online if the URL is provided. Others are provided in abstract form only. Links to items below may become inactive over time. Please contact Jeffrey Michaels for questions about the content of this page.
PCSF Annual Meeting
The Process Control Systems Forum (PCSF) 2008 Annual Meeting will be held Aug. 26 - 28, 2008 in San Diego, Calif. PCSF seeks to accelerate the design, development, and deployment of more secure control and legacy systems. More information is at https://www.pcsforum.org/events/2008/
Trade groups ask Congress to delay cargo security rule
by Chris Strohm
CongressDaily, July 21, 2008
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080721_3654.php
Forty of the nation's largest business and trade associations are asking Congress to delay a Homeland Security Department cargo security mandate they say will have negative affects on commerce and security.
Aviation Security: Transportation Security Administration May Face Resource and Other Challenges in Developing a System to Screen All Cargo Transported on Passenger Aircraft
GAO-08-959T July 15, 2008
http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-08-959T
This testimony addresses four challenges TSA may face in developing a system to screen 100 percent of cargo: (1) deploying effective technologies; (2) changing TSA air cargo screening exemptions; (3) allocating compliance inspection resources to oversee CCSP participants; and (4) securing cargo transported from a foreign nation to the United States.
In search of safe harbor
by John Moore
FCW, July 7, 2008
http://www.fcw.com/print/22_20/features/153039-1.html
Securing the nation’s ports represents one of the most complicated undertakings in homeland security because of the high volume of traffic and large number of parties involved. Timely, accurate data sharing is at the heart of the challenge.
Chemical Vulnerability: Department of Homeland Security sends letters to high-risk facilities
by Rochelle Bohaty
Chemical and Engineering News, July 7, 2008
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/86/i27/8627notw1.html
The Department of Homeland Security has preliminarily labeled more than 200 chemical facilities, including university laboratories, at highest risk for a potential terrorist attack. DHS has winnowed this number from a pool of about 7,000 facilities under review in its chemical plant security program.
New measures would provide more cybersecurity funds
by Ben Bain
Washington Technology, June 30, 2008
http://www.washingtontechnology.com/online/1_1/33072-1.html
The House and Senate Appropriations committees have approved different measures to fund the Homeland Security Department in fiscal 2009, and each would provide more money for cybersecurity than the Bush administration requested.
GAO: DHS should complete integration of cyber operations
by Jill R. Aitoro
NextGov.com, June 27, 2008
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080627_7287.php
The Homeland Security Department has failed to follow two of three recommendations issued by a special task force last year to integrate operations to improve response to disruptions of voice and data networks during emergencies, according to a report issued by the GAO.
Maritime Security: National Strategy and Supporting Plans Were Generally Well-Developed and Are Being Implemented
GAO-08-672, June 20, 2008
http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-08-672
This GAO report discusses: (1) the extent to which the strategy and its supporting plans contain desirable characteristics of an effective national strategy, and (2) the reported status of the implementation of these plans. To conduct this work, GAO evaluated the National Strategy for Maritime Security and its supporting plans against the desirable characteristics of an effective national strategy that GAO identified in February 2004, reviewed HSPD-13 and supporting plans, and reviewed documents on the status of the plans' implementation.
Agency says 7,000 sites at 'high risk' of terrorist attack
CNN, June 20, 2008
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/20/terror.risk/?iref=mpstoryview
More than 7,000 facilities, from chemical plants to colleges, have been designated "high-risk" sites for potential terrorist attacks, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Supply Chain Security: Challenges to Scanning 100 Percent of U.S.-Bound Cargo Containers
GAO report GAO-08-533T, June 12, 2008
http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-08-533T
This testimony is based on GAO products issued from July 2003 through April 2008 and ongoing work. To conduct this work, GAO reviewed reports from CBP and international partners on SFI and other container security programs, and interviewed CBP and foreign customs officials.
Gas manufacturer defends SCADA
by Tim Greene
Network World, June 12, 2008
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/061208-scada.html
A large medical-grade gas firm is installing intrusion-prevention systems to circumvent security problems that the government fears are a menace to power utilities and other essential industries.
TSA offers fast screening lanes at some airports
by Thomas Frank and Barbara DeLollis
USA TODAY, June 10, 2008
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-06-09-Family-lanes_N.htm
At least 40 airports are flocking to adopt a screening program that offers relaxed security lanes for families and fast lanes for expert travelers, the government said Monday.
Justice Department official moving to US-CERT
by Patience Wait
FederalNewsRadio.com, June 5, 2008
http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=169&sid=1415933
Mischel Kwon, currently the acting director of IT security and Chief IT Security Technologist for the Justice Department, is leaving the Department of Justice to become the new director of the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team.
Rail cargo safety fight heats up
by Alexandra Marks
The Christian Science Monitor, June 2, 2008
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0603/p03s01-usgn.html
The Transportation Department has proposed regulations that require railroads to assess routes for shipping dangerous chemicals.
Wireless systems brace for storms
by William Jackson
Government Computer news, May 26, 2008
http://www.gcn.com/print/27_12/46335-1.html
With the hurricane season opening June 1 predicted to be more active than usual, major wireless carriers have been hardening networks in the vulnerable Southeast and Gulf Coast states.
Congress Alarmed at Cyber-Vulnerability of Power Grid
by Andy Greenberg
Forbes.com, May 22, 2008
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/05/22/cyberwar-breach-government-tech-security_cx_ag_0521cyber.html
At a House hearing on May 21, members of the House Committee on Homeland Security warned that those regulatory bodies aren't moving fast enough to guard against cyber-security threats to critical infrastructure like power plants and the telecom system.
TVA Power Plants Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks, GAO Finds
by Brian Krebs
washingtonpost.com, May 21, 2008
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/20/AR2008052002354.html
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the nation's largest public power company, is vulnerable to cyber attacks that could sabotage critical systems that provide electricity to more than 8.7 million people, according to a Government Accountability Office report to be released today.
EPA invests $8M to secure S.F. water supply
Waste & Wastewater news, May 21, 2008
http://www.wwn-online.com/articles/62761
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded an $8 million grant to San Francisco to help the city develop and evaluate a drinking water contamination warning system for its drinking water supply.
"Implications of Cyber Vulnerabilities on the Resiliency and Security of the Electric Grid"
House Homeland Security Committee, Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology Subcommittee hearing, May 21, 2008
DHS Awards $844 Million to Secure Nation's Critical Infrastructure
DHS news release, May 16, 2008
http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1210954542145.shtm
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced more than $844 million in grant awards as part of its Infrastructure Protection Activities (IPA) grant program. Grant awards will strengthen security at ports and enhance transit, trucking and intercity bus systems.
Major cyberterrorism meeting scheduled; International partnership against cyberterrorism to convene next week
by William Jackson
Government Computer News, May 15, 2008
http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/46265-1.html
A meeting next week in Malaysia being billed as the largest minister-level summit ever held on cyberterrorism will kick off an international partnership of more than 30 countries to study and respond to high-level cybersecurity threats.
F.B.I. Says the Military Had Bogus Computer Gear
by John Markoff
New York Times, May 9, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/technology/09cisco.html
The prospect of an electronic Trojan horse, lurking in the circuitry of a computer and allowing attackers clandestine access or control, was raised again recently by the F.B.I. and the Pentagon.
NATO creates cyberdefense team
by Alice Lipowicz
Washington Technology, May 2, 2008
http://www.washingtontechnology.com/online/1_1/32730-1.html
NATO has set up a new Cyber Defense Management Authority that will coordinate the safeguarding of its own and member states’ computer infrastructures against cyberattack.
Report: Small-vessel security to rely on tech tools
by Alice Lipowicz
Washington Technology, April 29, 2008
http://www.washingtontechnology.com/online/1_1/32695-1.html
Description Technology will be a key component in reducing the terrorist threat associated with the nation’s recreational and commercial small boats, according to a new DHS strategy.
DHS cites steps to detect increasing network intrusions
by Chris Strohm
CongressDaily, April 25, 2008
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39867
The Homeland Security Department plans to complete an analysis in about 45 days to determine which U.S. government computer networks are most vulnerable to cyberattacks, with the intention of deploying 50 new intrusion detection systems to federal agencies by the end of the year.
Critical infrastructure central to cyber threat
by Ben Bain
Federal Computer Week, April 24, 2008
http://www.fcw.com/online/news/152335-1.html
The United States is increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks that could have catastrophic effects on critical physical infrastructure, and severely damage the country’s economic, military and strategic interests, according to specialists from the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit (US-CCU), who spoke at the GovSec, U.S. Law and Ready Conference and Exposition in Washington.
High-stakes war games; Cyber Storm II tests public and private sectors’ ability to cooperate, communicate
by William Jackson
Government Computer News, April 14, 2008
http://www.gcn.com/print/27_8/46115-1.html
The Homeland Security Department recently hosted a number of federal, state, local and international government agencies along with more than 40 private-sector companies in the second in a series of large-scale cyber defense exercises.