Control System Security Program Promotion

It seems like the DHS Control System Security Program (CSSP) has decided that it needs to inform the public that it is hard at work designing ways to protect increasingly vulnerable industrial control systems. Their initial efforts, opening up the INL portion of their operation to the news media, seems be particularly effective. Two mainstream print organizations (LA Times, Washington Post) a broadcast news organization (CBS News) and an industry magazine (PC World) have all had significant on-line print stories about ICS security out in the last week. CNN has a video on-line about the same subject.

I didn’t see anything really new or outrageously wrong in any of these reports. In fact they seem to be pretty balanced stories for the general public about a topic that professionals have become increasingly vocal about over the last couple of years. There are some over-simplifications and some vulnerabilities may seem a little too easy to exploit, but for general public consumption these are pretty good information.

Hopefully this is a signal that DHS intends to pay a little more attention this year to industrial control system security issues during Cyber Security Awareness Month. Certainly the public needs to know how to protect their computers and personal information, but they also need to be made aware of the larger potential threats that may affect them and the communities in which they live.