Infosec boffins meet to plan nuke plant hack response
Stuxnet gave the world a graphic demonstration just how high the stakes can be when malware hits machinery.
This week, the world is starting to plan a response to an even scarier incident, in which an online attack is aimed at a working nuclear or radiological facility.
Leading the fight is the International Atomic Energy Agency, which this week hosts an event titled “Consultancy Meeting Incident Response Planning for Computer Security Events at Nuclear/Radiological Facilities” in its Vienna home.
The agency isn’t saying much about the week-long talk-fest, but the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA), which will attend to lend its expertise, says the objective is to “… provide guidance on the key elements required to develop and implent [sic] a comprehensive security response plan associated with an information and computer/computer systems attacks at nuclear material, or other associated activities.”
ENISA says it also expects to discuss the following:
- Information and computer security incident scenarios
-Categorisation of information and computer security incidents
-Organisational roles and structures
-Outline of response and recovery procedures for incidents oon industrial computer systems (ICS, including computer based systems used for physical prtection, nuclear safety and nuclear material accountancy and control - National reporting and response structures , including Computer Emergency Response Teams.
- Restoration and recovery activities.
ENISA won’t be alone at the event: The Reg has seen letters to various nations’ nuclear regulators asking them to send representatives to the event.
Those letters say the hoped-for outcome of the meeting is “the initial development of a new Nuclear Security Series document: ‘Incident Response Planning for Computer Security Events at Nuclear/Radiological Facilities’.” That document is expected to serve as a useful guide for others. Let’s hope that: a) They do a good job; and b) It never gets used. reg
Article source: http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/19/iaea_nuke_hack_defence_meeting/