In response to the fact that West Texas Intermediate (WTI) has increased 15 percent over the last few months, the White House has passed a significant Executive Order (EO) regarding cybersecurity.
It establishes new ground rules for confronting cyber-attacks challenging the government and the contractors that work directly with the government.
The EO has many monthly benchmarks, and the government is set to insist vendors build cybersecurity into software from the ground up.
The federal government has also taken steps to exercise its existing authority to regulate the cybersecurity of pipelines. Security Directive Pipeline-2021-01, issued by the Department of Homeland Security, mandates new cybersecurity assessments and mitigation plans for the country’s largest pipelines.
One key objective is to ensure appropriate segmentation between enterprise IT networks and OT networks. This was perhaps the biggest problem with Colonial’s uncertainty as to whether the attack had penetrated to the OT systems that physically control pipeline operations.
Without assurance that its OT systems were secure, Colonial had no choice but to shut down.
Neiland Wright from Indrasoft, a Virginia government tech contractor, said: “This EO will set goals for modernising cybersecurity in the government, enhancing information sharing between IT providers and it will establish a Cybersecurity Safety Review Board.”
For more information visit www.eia.gov
