Another Meeting of the Commission on Enhancing Cybersecurity

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a public meeting notice in Monday’s Federal Register (81 FR 43588-43589; available on line Saturday) for another meeting of the President’s Commission to Enhance Cybersecurity. The meeting will be held in Houston, TX on July 14^th, 2016. This will be the fourth public meeting of the Commission with two more slated for August and September.

This meeting will include three panel discussions:

• Current and future effects of critical infrastructure on the digital economy;

• Critical infrastructure cybersecurity challenges affecting the digital economy; and

• Cybersecurity challenges and opportunities in State and local governments.

The Commission is soliciting public comments on these topics. There will be limited opportunities for oral comments at the meeting. Written comments may be submitted to the Commission via email (cybercommission@nist.gov).

As I have mentioned on a number of occasions, EO 13718 that established the Commission studiously ignored cybersecurity issues for control systems. Given the topic of the first panel discussion, it might be appropriate for members of the control system security community to provide comments on the importance of control systems in the operation and maintenance of critical infrastructure facilities and the unique aspects of cybersecurity for those industrial control systems.