Critical Infrastructure Protection


Today’s interdependent and interconnected world requires joint efforts and holistic approaches to protect critical infrastructure assets from the growing number of attacks and to address ever-evolving cyber threats to government, energy, healthcare, education, banking, transportation, telecommunication and other critical sectors.

With a dedicated section focusing on Critical Infrastructure protection, we aim to enhance cooperation and engage security professionals through news, articles and in-depth analysis of emerging threats and technologies.


NEWS

  • Utilities ‘Concerningly’ at Risk from Active Exploits

    June 14, 2021

    The amount of time that utility networks spend exposed to a known application exploit has spiked over the past two months — something analysts called out as a “concerning datapoint,” and an important reminder that ransomware isn’t the only threat utility networks need to secure against. A new report from WhiteHat Security measured the amount of ...

  • UK tells UN that nation-states should retaliate against cyber badness with no warning

    June 11, 2021

    Britain has told the UN that international cyber law should allow zero-notice digital punishment directed at countries that attack others’ infrastructure. A statement made by UK diplomats to the UN’s Group of Governmentcrital Experts on Advancing Responsible State Behaviour in the Context of International Security (UN GGE) called for international law to permit retaliation for cyber ...

  • Key Considerations for the Department of Energy on Defending the Bulk Power Grid

    June 10, 2021

    On January 20, President Joseph Biden issued Executive Order (E.O.) 13990 to help protect U.S. bulk power organizations. This Order enacted a 90-day suspension of E.O. 13920 which was set by the previous administration. The new executive order empowered the Secretary of Energy (“Secretary”) to publish new criteria around pre-qualifying vendors of electric equipment, as ...

  • US brokerage firms warned of ongoing phishing with penalty threats

    June 8, 2021

    FINRA, the U.S. securities industry regulator, has warned brokerage firms of an ongoing phishing campaign threatening recipients with penalties unless they provide the information requested by the attackers. FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) is an independent, non-governmental securities regulator supervised by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that regulates all securities firms and exchange markets ...

  • FBI Claws Back Millions of DarkSide’s Ransom Profits

    June 7, 2021

    United States law enforcement has clawed back approximately $2.3 million of the ransom allegedly paid to DarkSide by Colonial Pipeline last month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI announced in a joint press conference on Monday. “Today we turned the tables on DarkSide,” FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said in live-streamed remarks. They seized the money ...

  • Chinese threat actors hacked NYC MTA using Pulse Secure zero-day

    June 3, 2021

    Chinese-backed threat actors breached New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) network in April using a Pulse Secure zero-day. Still, they failed to cause any data loss or gain access to systems controlling the transportation fleet. MTA mitigated the vulnerability on April 21, one day after Pulse Secure issued an advisory, and CISA published an alert ...

  • UF Health Florida hospitals back to pen and paper after cyberattack

    June 3, 2021

    UF Health Central Florida has suffered a reported ransomware attack that forced two hospitals to shut down portions of their IT network. The University of Florida Health, also known as UF Health, is a healthcare network of hospitals and physician practices that provide care to countries throughout Florida. Read more… Source: Bleeping Computer  

  • Banking Attacks Surge Along with Post-COVID Economy

    June 2, 2021

    For many, COVID-19 has been a crushing catastrophe. But for bank scammers, it’s shaped up to be a nice little money-making opportunity. As the post-pandemic economy roars back to life, cybercriminals are using a new whirlwind of transactions as cover to launch an extraordinary number of bank fraud attacks. In just the past quarter, the number ...

  • U.S. Critical Infrastructure: Addressing Cyber Threats and the Importance of Prevention

    May 31, 2021

    The critical infrastructure of the United States includes all those systems and assets that are essential to the proper functioning, economy, health, and safety of American society. The roads and railways that we travel on; the Internet and the mobile networks that connect us; the water that we drink; the healthcare, financial services and security ...