Critical infrastructure depends on interconnected operational systems, where cyber incidents can disrupt essential services, safety, and availability.
Search across headline titles and summaries.
Background for this topic.
Critical infrastructure includes systems and assets vital for public health, safety, and economic stability, such as power grids, water treatment, transportation networks, and healthcare facilities. These systems often combine physical components with industrial control systems (ICS) and operational technology (OT) that manage essential services in real time.
From an information-security perspective, critical infrastructure faces risks like unauthorized access to control systems, disruption of service availability, and manipulation of sensor data. Defending these assets requires specialized security measures tailored to ICS environments, including network segmentation, strict access controls, and continuous monitoring for anomalies. Ensuring resilience also involves coordinated efforts between operators and government agencies to address vulnerabilities unique to legacy systems and proprietary protocols.
Also: Top Threat Actors Are Targeting Hospitals; Remembering Steve KatzIn the latest weekly update, editors at ISMG discuss the rampant rise in healthcare sector attacks and breaches in 2023, the most common vulnerabilities and targets, and remember the life of the Steve Katz, the world's first CISO who inspired generations of security leaders.
Kentucky health system Norton Healthcare has confirmed that a ransomware attack in May exposed personal information belonging to patients, employees, and dependents. [...]
Apps and Devices Powered by Open-Source Code Are Pervasive in HealthcareOpen-source software is pervasive in healthcare. It is used in critical systems such as electronic health records and components contained in medical devices. Federal regulators are urging healthcare sector firms to be vigilant in managing risks and threats involving open-source software.
Russian APT28 military hackers used Microsoft Outlook zero-day exploits to target multiple European NATO member countries, including a NATO Rapid Deployable Corps. [...]
Cyber mimics life, as Iran uses Lebanese hackers to attack its bête noire.
Indictments allege plot to shift FPGAs, accelerometers, and spycams A Belgian man has been arrested and charged for his role in a years-long smuggling scheme to export military-grade electronics from the US to Russia and China.…
HHS Is Proposing New Cyber Regs for Hospitals and a HIPAA Security Rule UpdateThe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday released a sweeping strategy document proposing how the Biden administration intends to push the healthcare sector - through new requirements, incentives and enforcement - into improving the state of its cybersecurity.
Austul USA, a military contractor, alerts law enforcement it quickly mitigated a recent cyberattack on its systems and that an investigation is ongoing.
A collection of 21 security flaws have been discovered in Sierra Wireless AirLink cellular routers and open-source software components like TinyXML and OpenNDS
A set of 21 newly discovered vulnerabilities impact Sierra OT/IoT routers and threaten critical infrastructure with remote code execution, unauthorized access, cross-site scripting, authentication bypass, and denial of service attacks. [...]
TA422 Is Targeting Organizations in Europe and North America, Proofpoint SaysA Russian military hacking intelligence group is winning the race to exploit known vulnerabilities before system administrators can apply patches, warns Proofpoint. The firm has seen a spike in activity from TA422, also known as APT28, Fancy Bear and Forest Blizzard.
Urgent Action Needed to Prevent Ransomware Attacks Involving Vulnerability ExploitA recent spike in ransomware attacks has prompted federal regulators and the American Hospital Association to issue urgent warnings to hospitals and other healthcare firms to prevent potential exploitation of the Citrix Bleed software flaw affecting some NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway devices.
Suleyman Ozarslan, co-founder of Picus Security, discusses critical-infrastructure cyber drills in the region, who runs them, and what happens to the results.
US government organizations responsible for making sure healthcare products are safe and effective have proposed rules and are soliciting industry feedback regarding artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The Russia-linked influence operation called Doppelganger has targeted Ukrainian, U.S., and German audiences through a combination of inauthentic news sites and social media accounts
Military Intelligence Exploits Microsoft Flaw Patched In MarchRussian military intelligence hackers active in Poland are exploiting a patched flaw in Microsoft Outlook, say cyber defenders from Redmond and Warsaw. Microsoft in a Monday post identifies the hackers as Forest Blizzard, also known as APT28 and Fancy Bear.
There's a war on and critical infrastructure operators are still using default passwords Iran-linked cyber thugs have exploited Israeli-made programmable logic controllers (PLCs) used in "multiple" water systems and other operational technology environments at facilities across the US, according to multiple law enforcement agencies .…