The Army Cyber Command is increasing its focus on defending facilities and infrastructures that play a vital role in military installations, Fifth Domain reported Friday. The command wants to transition cyber teams from tasks focused on threat actors, defense and incident response to responsibilities to protect industrial control systems and supervisory control and data acquisition.
“Over the last four or five years, as we’ve gotten repetitions responding to incident responses, we’ve really identified where the most likely opportunities that the [Cyber Protection Brigade] will be called to respond and react to. One of those huge areas is ICS-SCADA networks,†said Lt. Col. Michael Smith, S-3 operations officer at the brigade.Â
He said the Army is trying to understand all facilities that support military installations, from water to electric, to see the potential impact of a successful cyber attack. The Army cyber teams are also considering commercial environments and infrastructures that support military installations.Â
However, Greg Touhill, former federal chief information security officer, said in 2018 that such a move would require specialized expertise.
“At each base there is so much stuff, I don’t believe at this point that cyber protection teams could parachute in effectively,†he said. “You almost have to have a tailored approach for each installation.â€
