|
Researchers have discovered flaws in SCADA computer systems which control major critical national infrastructure, including oil and gas. Furthermore, researchers discovered that 60,000 industrial control system devices are at risk of attack.
Commenting on these findings, Tony Burton, Critical Infrastructure Protection Business Lead at Thales UK said: “In other industries the government has already put systems and processes in place to ensure that knowledge about the workings of crucial network infrastructure is protected -and this now needs to be extended to the energy sector. The discovery of these recent flaws has demonstrated that organisations are either still not taking cyber security seriously or are simply bewildered by system vulnerabilities - currently, a high volume of cyber security incidents go unreported.
It’s important to understand that a holistic approach is needed when it comes to protecting our critical national infrastructure. Cyber-defences need to be tightly integrated with processes to bolster resilience and ensure that industrial system devices are protected from potential hacks. In order to remain poised to react to this evolving threat landscape, power companies need to continually assess their defence capabilities, and employ best practice cyber maturity models to centre around continuous policy evaluation and adaptation. Akin to other industries, the energy sector needs some form of self declaration for cyber attacks. “
|
