Pentagon will require security standards for critical infrastructure networks

wang song/Shutterstock.com

Defense plan was in the works before Obama signed Tuesday’s cybersecurity executive order.

The first-ever cybersecurity certification requirements for private utilities and other vital infrastructure supporting the military are set to be released this fall and take effect within a year, Pentagon officials told Nextgov.

The Defense Department rules had been in the works before President Obama on Tuesday issued an executive order calling for the government to consider mandating such standards in federal contracts. Increasingly, owners of so-called critical infrastructure are asking the government for guidelines to fend off cyberattacks, but many are averse to computer security regulations. Pentagon leaders, however, have long raised alarms that the United States could be devastated by a cyber assault if businesses and government do not act now.

As a result, within a year military contracts will require continuous monitoring of protections for industrial control systems, or ICS -- the networks operating utilities, sewage treatment and other critical infrastructure, Daryl Haegley, a Defense program manager leading ICS security efforts, said during an interview. This is in contrast to the current process of testing systems every three years, he said.

The standards-development process only took about a year (lightning speed in government terms), because of the urgency of the threat, officials said. "You don't typically see something move this quickly through DoD," said Michael Chipley, a private consultant who is working on the ICS security project. 

Pentagon officials described one recent real-life incident that displayed the fragility of industrial systems. In 2011, the military constructed a state of the art building operated by a central control panel that was networked to turn on and off the water, heat, security and other building maintenance features. When someone connected a basic office printer to the network, the system tried and failed to identify the unknown device, causing tens of thousands of building devices to try to respond, and ultimately jam the network. "Just connecting a printer can bring down an industrial control system network," Haegley said. 

The forthcoming contract specifications include safeguards such as sensors and software that regularly scan infrastructure electronics for abnormal activity, analogous to how the whole government now requires continuous monitoring tools on federal information technology. Recently, civilian agencies began a similar program -- the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, dubbed FedRAMP -- to certify that cloud vendors who remotely provide federal IT services continuously monitor their privately-owned data centers.

Today, military employees and contractors have little visibility into potential electronic threats against critical infrastructure because those facilities were never designed to scan themselves, officials said. There is no standard McAfee- or Symantec-like system you can buy off the shelf for tracking vulnerabilities on bridge lever machines and other essential equipment. Right now, patches and other vulnerability fixes are applied manually, which often means vital systems have to be turned off during maintenance. One major problem with this arrangement: "Sometimes you can't go without water, you can't go without power," Haegley said. 

There are some automated protections -- firewalls, virtual private networks and disablement of remote access -- that can be bolted on to systems after the fact, officials said. Going forward, Pentagon suppliers will have to either embed strong safeguards into industrial control systems or forego military business.

The president's order, however, only calls for voluntary cyber standards for securing critical infrastructure. The dictate asks the General Services Administration, the government's purchasing arm, and the Pentagon to evaluate the possibility of rejecting federal vendors who do not comply with the standards. Within three months, the departments are to advise the president "on the feasibility, security benefits, and relative merits” of incorporating security standards into contract administration, the order states. 

Haegley said the military's ICS security rubric "will be available and usable throughout government and industry," adding that he thinks the specifications should be inserted into acquisition requirements.

To develop the critical infrastructure security framework, officials picked 200 items from an a la carte menu of 600 existing National Institute of Standards and Technology controls that they thought best suited ICS, he said. 

A new report by James A. Lewis, a cybersecurity researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and frequent administration adviser, suggests a similar strategy could fulfill Obama’s mandate.

The order directs NIST, in consultation with industry, to create a full range of measures for critical infrastructure, which is expected to take two years, but initial controls “are already a subset of NIST’s existing guidance -- and could be expanded or modified by the NIST process to implement the executive order,” Lewis wrote. “Waiting a year or two to put requirements in place would be a mistake.”

The Pentagon’s goal is for its military-grade safeguards to catch on outside military facilities and help protect private industrial operations, much like how the government encryption specification Federal Information Processing Standard, or FIPS, now helps protect privately-owned data.

But it will take "many years before we can get all the ICS systems certified" using the specific controls, because the scanning systems are not commercially available yet and prior accreditations have not expired, Chipley said.  

Even so, the push for stronger cybersecurity nationwide -- underscored by Obama's executive order -- could accelerate implementation, Haegley said.  

(Image via wang song/Shutterstock.com)

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.