The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Wednesday said it is expanding its private and public sector collaborative operations center to include a number of companies in the industrial control systems (ICS) and operational technology (OT) space, adding expertise around how to protect the software and machines that operate many of the nation’s critical infrastructures.
The new members of the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) include Bechtel, Claroty, Dragos, General Electric [GE], Honeywell [HON], Nozomi Networks, Schneider Electric [SBGSY], Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Siemens [SIEGY] and Xylem [XYL].
“Cyber threats to the systems that control and operate the critical infrastructure we rely on every day are among our greatest challenges,” CISA Director Jen Easterly said at the 24X2 conference in Miami. “As the destruction or corruption of these control systems could cause grave harm, ensuring their security and resilience must be a collective effort that taps into the innovation, expertise and ingenuity of the ICS community.”
CISA stood up the JCDC last August to operationalize collaboration between the public and private sectors in real-time to contend with the most significant cyber threats facing the U.S.
CISA said the JCDC-ICS will “build plans around the protection and defense of control systems, inform U.S. government guidance on ICS/OT cybersecurity, and contribute to real time operational fusion across private and public partners in the ICS/OT space.”
When it was created, the JCDC initially focused on ransomware and responding to incidents affecting cloud service providers. Of late, the center has been monitoring activity related to Russia’s war in Ukraine.