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DOD, SCADA, What's That?

I found this very disconcerting in this year of our Lord 2016.

Yikes! Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems have been at the forefront of what cybersecurity specialists have harped on for many, many years. Then today, I read this extract from a news release:

"Rockville, MD (March 2, 2016) — Ultra Electronics, 3eTI®, a leading cyber-technology company with products and solutions that secure critical infrastructure and improve operational efficiency, today issued a response to a letter Navy admirals sent to US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. In the letter, issued February 11, Adm. William Gortney and Adm. Harry Harris ask Secretary Carter to add industrial control systems (ICS) security to the monthly cyber scorecard. DoD uses the scorecard framework to assess the progress agencies make in improving cyber security."

Secretary Carter evidently agreed, "Well, duh — it is about time."

To me this shows how far we still need to go to secure our infrastructure. Think of military bases as cities with all the power, water, sewer, etc., needs that a modern city needs to operate. And with the Internet of Things (IoT), the impact is going to be huge when you think of security.

 

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.