CIAO looking at links
Taking a cue from the Defense Department, the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office wants to identify how critical systems link together
The federal government is kicking off a program to identify the interdependencies
in key systems and programs to prepare against future cyberattacks.
The Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office is developing a critical infrastructure
protection National Security Matrix that will identify how critical systems
are linked and how they are reliant on other systems, said Sarah Jane League,
Defense Department Liaison to the CIAO, at an Industry Advisory Council
luncheon Tuesday.
The matrix is necessary because the government does not own the entire infrastructures,
such as electric systems power grids and water systems that support the
critical systems.
"We tend to go across government and look at the public and private infrastructure,"
League said. "We are in the very early stages of this. It is a great vision,
and we think we will need it in the future."
The matrix will complement the work already done at DOD by the Defensewide
Information Assurance Program to identify key assets' interdependencies.
NEXT STORY: NSA moves to defuse Echelon controversy