Mass Transit - 20
Securing
the Railroads
from
Cyberattacks
Railroads are currently adopting smart
rail and IoT solutions that promise great
benefits, but their adoption also
increases the vulnerability of
railroads to cyberattacks
and hacking.
By Vlad Gostomelsky,
contributor
A
MERICAN RAILROADS CURRENTLY FACE THE GREATEST
threat to their critical safety systems in history: cyberattacks. Rail
critical infrastructure in America has been subject to a spate of
cyberattacks, with severity and incidence increasing daily. The
importance of the railroads to America's economy, the potential
for damage on a transcontinental scale to both freight and passenger traffic and the vulnerability of the entire rail system to
a dispersed attack are all making the railroads an increasingly
attractive target for hackers and cybercriminals.
Railroads are currently adopting smart rail and Internet of Things
(IoT) solutions that promise great benefits in terms of efficiency, maintenance, availability of assets and overall performance. However, their
adoption also increases the vulnerability of railroads to cyberattacks and
hacking. Another contributing factor is the expanding use throughout
the rail network of commercial off-the-shelf systems (COTS). Adopting
5G communications as the rail infrastructure communications backbone encourages the adoption of dispersed COTS edge systems as part
of critical communications systems and network functions, further
increasing vulnerability to cyberattacks. Also at increased risk, is the
vast network of legacy control systems, remote control units and SCADA
systems upon which the safety and performance of the entire American
railroad systems rely.
20 |
Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020
Adobe
A spate of cyberattacks
Rail systems both in America and
in Europe have already been subject to several significant attacks.
At the CeBIT Hannover Fair
in 2015, a rail network simulation
was created as an experiment to
determine the intensity of attacks
against typical rail infrastructure.
The simulation was highly realistic, with CCTV feeds, control
interfaces, train schedules and
running time status updates. Over
a period of six weeks, the researchers recorded 2,745,267 cyberattacks on the simulation. In about
10 percent of the attacks, the hackers managed to gain some limited control of the system. Hackers
returned again and again, probing
deeper into the system each time.
If the experiment had lasted for
CONTINUOUS
NETWORK
monitoring,
analytics and
intelligence
enables firms
to adopt
active defense
strategies
against
cyberattacks.
http://www.MassTransitmag.com
Mass Transit
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Mass Transit
Editor's Notebook: A Glance Back Before Moving Ahead
People & Places: The Latest Industry and People News and Updates
From Smart City to Hyperconnected City - What's Next in Digital Innovation?
A Service Turnaround: How King County Metro is Making its Paratransit Service More than a Solution
Securing the Railroads from Cyberattacks
Products: In Focus - Shelters, Stops & Stations
Mass Transit Supplier Directory 2020: Company Listings
Mass Transit Supplier Directory 2020: Product Category Listings
Classifieds
Mass Transit - 1
Mass Transit - 2
Mass Transit - 3
Mass Transit - 4
Mass Transit - 5
Mass Transit - Editor's Notebook: A Glance Back Before Moving Ahead
Mass Transit - 7
Mass Transit - People & Places: The Latest Industry and People News and Updates
Mass Transit - 9
Mass Transit - 10
Mass Transit - 11
Mass Transit - From Smart City to Hyperconnected City - What's Next in Digital Innovation?
Mass Transit - 13
Mass Transit - 14
Mass Transit - 15
Mass Transit - A Service Turnaround: How King County Metro is Making its Paratransit Service More than a Solution
Mass Transit - 17
Mass Transit - 18
Mass Transit - 19
Mass Transit - Securing the Railroads from Cyberattacks
Mass Transit - 21
Mass Transit - 22
Mass Transit - 23
Mass Transit - Products: In Focus - Shelters, Stops & Stations
Mass Transit - 25
Mass Transit - Mass Transit Supplier Directory 2020: Company Listings
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