Page 13 - FCW, September 30, 2016
P. 13

$100 million
DHS officials: Agencies must work faster on IoT security
in DOD funding is being reprogrammed to hunt for cyber vulnerabilities in major weapons systems
CRITICAL READ
WHAT: “Hacking Elections is Easy! Part 1:Tactics,Techniques and Procedures,” a report by the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology
WHY: The FBI is investigating the targeting by foreign hackers of voter registration databases in Arizona and Illinois, and threats to election technology have prompted the Department of Homeland Security to consider putting the systems under pro- tections similar to those that safeguard the nation’s energy grid and financial systems.
According to the Institute for Critical InfrastructureTechnol- ogy, the U.S. election system relies on disparate technologies run by states and municipalities that are potentially easy prey to a wide range of bad actors. And targeting only a few systems in a swing state could be enough to alter the outcome of a national election.
VERBATIM: “Voter machines, technically, are so riddled with vulnerabilities that even an upstart script kid- die could wreak havoc on a regional election, a hack- tivist group could easily exploit a state election, an \\\[advanced persistent threat\\\] could effortlessly exploit a national election, and any corrupt element with noth- ing more than the ability to describe the desired out- come could order layers of exploits on any of the mul- titude of deep web forums and marketplaces.”
FULL REPORT:
is.gd/FCW_ICIT
Government agencies are running out of time to address the security chal- lenges associated with the increased connectivity of the Internet of Things, said Robert Silvers, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for cyber policy.
Increased connectivity means expand- ed attack surfaces, and the challenge is developing flexible, living security stan- dards while preserving the IoT’s innova- tion and productivity gains, he said at an August meeting at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
“I think we all recognize the IoT is not a trend, it’s a full-blown phenomenon at this point,” Silvers said. “We have... a very narrow and closing window in which to address the security challenges on the front end before we are put in the much more difficult, much less enviable position of addressing security against an ecosystem that is already stood up, functioning and created.”
He also lamented the current lack of “anything resembling a standard of due care \\\[for when things\\\] really go awry and ultimately hit the court system” in cases that could negatively affect consumers.
“I think we need to be very candid with ourselves, with each other, that we see few solutions gaining traction in any
kind of holistic and sustained and wide- spread way,” he said. “The bottom line is that product is moving to market with- out security” plans for either the short or long term.
Silvers acknowledged that there are positive efforts in the public and private sectors to protect IoT stakeholders, such as NIST’s IoT building blocks and the Defense Department’s investment in IoT security.
However, he also said government agencies, including DHS, need to work harder on the IoT security front. “We need to accelerate everything we’re doing,” he said. “We need to make tough decisions now because they’re not going to get easier.”
For long-term solutions, Silvers said a certification system similar to the Energy Star seal of approval for home appliances could be one approach. “In the meantime, we need to have bridge solutions,” he added.
Silvers also announced that although DHS is not a regulatory agency, it is plan- ning to issue strategic principles for IoT stakeholders, including best practices and guidance for risk-based decisions that draw from previous work by private- sector partners and other agencies.
— Chase Gunter
Army Cyber Command
@ARCYBER
Army introduces new rapid tech office -- FCW https://fcw.com/ articles/2016/08/31/rapid-army-carberry.aspx ... via @FCWnow @frankentele, @SECARMY #DOD #cyber #USArmy
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