US firms join forces on gas sector security
US cybersecurity firm Dragos said August 23 it would work with DNG-ISAC services, which facilitates communication between utilities, to bolster protection for the North American natural gas sector.
Dragos and the Downstream Natural Gas Information Sharing and Analysis Center (DNG-ISAC) announced plans to deploy the former’s so-called Neighbourhood Keeper to help DNG-ISAC analysts gain greater insight into potential cybersecurity threats to the control systems at various segments of the natural gas sector.
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“The DNG-ISAC analyst will have the ability to view anonymous and aggregated information about threat analytics and Indicators of Compromise (IOC) as they are detected by the Dragos Platform and shared with Neighbourhood Keeper,” Dragos explained.
The Neighbourhood Keeper program was developed with support from the US Department of Energy (DoE).
The US Department of Homeland Security, for its part, issued mandates in July for pipeline owners and operators on cybersecurity. Through a new directive, they were called on to take specific mitigation measures against cybersecurity threats, develop recovery plans and perform regular cybersecurity reviews.
The measure was in large part a response to a ransomware attack in May on the Colonial fuels pipeline, which meets about half of the demand for refined products on the eastern US seaboard.
Three measures, HR 3119, 2931, and 2928, all passed through the House of Representatives last month. Broadly speaking, the measures would give the DoE more tools to address energy emergencies and cybersecurity threats.
Several procedural steps remain before any of those measures wind up on president Joe Biden's desk for final approval.