The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate is working with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to develop training tools for internet-based defenses specific to the automotive and rail industries.
The public-private initiative centers on two training platforms to be designed by the Idaho and Pacific Northwest national laboratories and included in CISA’s Control Environment Laboratory Resource testing programs, S&T said.
CELR currently has test environments for critical infrastructure such as electrical substations, water and chemical treatment plants, and building automation systems. The novel simulation device for the auto industry is a semi-autonomous electric vehicle that will be used for training, research, and analysis of online threat incident response. INL is leading the tool’s development.
For the rail sector, PNNL will create real-world scenarios of cyber threats in freight line operations, train and traffic control, and railway communications systems. “Our test environment will ensure that they are ready to mitigate or prevent these threats before they negatively impact these crucial systems and associated technologies,” said Thomas Edgar, a cybersecurity research scientist at PNNL.
The two test environments are still in early research stages but will eventually be part of CISA’s IT security suite.