CIAO looking at links

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.