CPNI
Protecting UK critical national infrastructure by securing industrial control systems
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National infrastructure are the facilities, systems, sites, information, people, networks and processes that are necessary for a country to function and upon which daily life depends. So, it’s vital to protect and secure it. To ensure the UK’s critical national infrastructure can withstand the test of the modern world, we worked with the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) and the UK’s National Technical Authority for Information Assurance (CESG) to create a framework of industrial control systems (ICS) guidance documents and a companion security assessment tool.
Key successes
- Created a framework of ICS guidance documents and a companion security assessment tool that are now used nationally
- Organisations now have a comprehensive system for assessing ICS security and can share best practice across sectors
- Our approach is now being used internationally
Protecting services and managing risk
Without services from sectors like energy, water, transport and communications, the UK could suffer serious consequences including severe social disruption or even loss of life. It means the infrastructure that underpins those sectors is critical.
Protecting these critical services is becoming more complex as providers become increasingly reliant on modern industrial control systems (ICS) to deliver their core operations. These systems are constructed from widely available off-the-shelf technologies. While they deliver significant cost and performance benefits, they also dramatically increase the threat of cyber-attacks that could result in a security breach.
To manage these risks and support the UK Government’s cyber security strategy, we worked with the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) and the UK’s National Technical Authority for Information Assurance (CESG) to create a framework of ICS guidance documents and a companion security assessment tool. The CPNI and CESG have published the guidance documents and the tool is now available nationwide.
Providing practical guidance and assessment tools
Without services from sectors like energy, water, transport and communications, the UK could suffer serious consequences including severe social disruption or even loss of life. It means the infrastructure that underpins those sectors is critical.
Protecting these critical services is becoming more complex as providers become increasingly reliant on modern industrial control systems (ICS) to deliver their core operations. These systems are constructed from widely available off-the-shelf technologies. While they deliver significant cost and performance benefits, they also dramatically increase the threat of cyber-attacks that could result in a security breach.
To manage these risks and support the UK Government’s cyber security strategy, we worked with the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) and the UK’s National Technical Authority for Information Assurance (CESG) to create a framework of ICS guidance documents and a companion security assessment tool. The CPNI and CESG have published the guidance documents and the tool is now available nationwide.
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