CISA unveils CI Fortify to help secure critical infrastructure during conflicts

CISA's CI Fortify project aims to assist critical infrastructure owners in defending against cyber threats and maintaining operational continuity during geopolitical conflicts. Operators are advised to prepare for unreliable third-party connections and potential access by threat actors to operational technology networks. The initiative emphasizes the importance of isolation and recovery planning. U.S. officials warn that critical infrastructure is a target for foreign hackers, particularly from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, with recent incidents highlighting vulnerabilities in operational technology systems.

""For planning purposes, operators should assume that in a conflict scenario third-party connections - such as telecommunications, internet, vendors, service providers, and upstream dependencies - will be unreliable and that threat actors will have some access to the [operational technology] network.""

""We strongly encourage organizations to review this guidance, implement the recommended actions and collaborate with CISA to strengthen CI defenses against opportunistic threat actors," agency acting director Nick Andersen said in a prepared statement."

""Critical infrastructure - like water treatment plants, financial institutions and electric grids - are a regular target for foreign hackers. U.S. officials have assessed for years that China is burrowing into non-military critical infrastructure networks, preparing to sabotage them should the U.S. enter into a major conflict with the nation, especially involving Chinese interests in Taiwan.""

""Amid the U.S.-Israel war against Iran, Tehran-backed hackers exploited and disrupted operational technology control systems embedded in multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, targeting equipment manufactured by Rockwell Automation, according to a government advisory issued last month.""

Read at Nextgov.com