The Biden administration on Wednesday said it is expanding a voluntary public-private cybersecurity partnership to the chemical sector, the fourth area covered by the Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Cybersecurity Initiative.
The initiative already covered the electric, natural gas pipeline, and water sectors.
Under the expanded initiative, the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is the lead federal agency for the chemical sector, has collaborated with chemical companies on a play for higher standards of cybersecurity. The plan is a roadmap to guide the sector’s assessment of its current best practices over the next 100 days.
The focus is on high-risk chemical facilities.
The Chemical Action Plan is aimed at driving information sharing and analysis between the public and private sectors, enable collaboration within the chemical sector owners and operators, and encourage the deployment of certain technologies based on each facility’s risk assessment and cyber posture.