NBC 4 Washington DC
By Adam Tuss
“I think the transportation industry should be very concerned,” said Steve Seiden, CEO of Acquired Data Solutions. “We have seen the last couple of attacks have significant impact, and we cannot take this lightly.”
How concerned should Transportation Agencies be in light of these recent Attacks?
The protection of Critical Infrastructure, which includes the Transportation Industry, has been at the forefront of Cybersecurity professionals for over 20 years. The foundation of Cyber is to safeguard and protect against the exploitation of assets. In most cases, the impact of Assets includes the operational and technical resiliency of systems and data; and the reputation of Organizations to maintain the trust of their stakeholders. But the Transportation Industry, and its supporting Agencies, has increased social, safety, and financial risk factors that could impact the day to day lives of our communities. Attacks like the SolarWinds, Colonial Pipeline, and the current attack on the meat industry highlights vulnerabilities in our infrastructure that must be addressed. Cyber-Resiliency in Transportation is an extremely important part of our industrial ecosystem.
What can they do to protect themselves?
Transportation Agencies can protect itself by understanding their risks, safeguarding their vulnerabilities, and reducing the likelihood and/or impacts of pending attacks. Cyber-attacks will happen. But how we prepare can shift the conversation from reactive to proactive responses.