The Naval Information Warfare Center has introduced the More Situational Awareness for Industrial Control Systems, or MOSAICS, a cybersecurity approach to safeguard the nation’s critical industrial control systems. NIWC said Thursday that adopting MOSAICS across the Department of Defense would give engineers detailed requirements for designing and building cyber systems for ICS.
What MOSAICS Can Do
MOSAICS aims to address vulnerabilities in the critical infrastructure sector, which relies on operational technologies that are being targeted by malicious cyber actors who want to disrupt services necessary to every American’s daily life.
NIWC’s framework protects OT by providing vendor-agnostic, non-proprietary, commercial-off-the-shelf hardware and software in one automated system.
According to Aleksandra Scalco, former MOSAICS lead systems engineer and current professor at Defense Acquisition University, the framework integrates cyber-monitoring and response protocols directly to physical devices used in the field such as actuators and sensors. The approach enables critical infrastructure operators to actively monitor their assets against adversarial threats.
“By enabling passive, safe and active ICS monitoring, the MOSAICS framework supports asset owners and operators in defending their systems against cyberattacks,” Scalco said.
NIWC wants the MOSAICS framework to be implemented as part of the DOD’s Unified Facilities Criteria 1-200-01, DDD Building Code or General Building Requirements.
“These specifications would be part of a comprehensive set of standards and regulations for the design, construction and maintenance of all military facilities, which could help DOD ensure safety, security, durability and functionality for critical ICS,” according to Richard Scalco, senior cybersecurity engineer at NIWC Atlantic.
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