Critical Infrastructure Sectors Research Articles

Forecasting and planning for a critical infrastructure sector during a pandemic: Empirical evidence from a food supply chain

The meat supply chain (MSC) – a key constituent of the ‘Food & Agriculture’ CISA critical infrastructure sector, was among the most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The witnessed successive demand and supply shocks uncovered the fragility of the MSC and revealed that more attention should be given by researchers and practitioners to ensure effective planning of such a critical infrastructure sector during periods of turbulence. To that end, in this paper we propose a two-stage approach for the planning of an MSC. In the first stage, we identify the most suitable model for predicting the demand and the supply. In the second stage, a multi-period multi-product mixed integer programming (MIP) model accounting for key MSC features is devised to deal with the planning of the MSC. Furthermore, in order to validate our theoretical proposition, a case study pertaining to a real-life MSC was used during the second and first wave of COVID-19 under different conditions. In particular, the results show that accurate demand and supply forecasting, and the recourse to rolling horizon planning approach, allow for satisfying the demand and maintaining the MSC profit in periods of turbulence, and so can be considered as levers for supply chain resilience.

PROGRESSIVE PRACTICES OF IMPLEMENTING PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS IN CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Private-public partnerships (PPPs) have become one of the leading and most effective models for investing in critical infrastructure, so the use and development of PPP models based on best practices is of particular importance in the current crisis period and during post-war recovery due to high pressure on the state budget and high risks for investment. The purpose of the study is to analyze progressive practices for the implementation of PPP projects for the critical infrastructure sectors and to develop recommendations for formulating a strategy for the usage of PPP projects in the different sectors of Ukrainian critical infrastructure. A detailed analysis of current approaches to the implementation of PPPs in the field of critical infrastructure was conducted, progressive practices of applying digitalization tools in this area were identified, and problems and prospects for their implementation were outlined. The potential factors, barriers and incentives based on regulatory, political, social, and technical factors that affect the implementation and effectiveness of PPPs in creating a modern "smart infrastructure" are highlighted. It is determined that the most important sectors for the execution of PPPs projects in most countries in recent years have been transportation, environment, education, healthcare, and telecommunications. However, the analysis of PPP projects in Ukraine concluded that the main areas of focus were the production and supply of water, gas and heat, while less attention was paid to infrastructure for education and healthcare. The article proposes strategies for the implementation of PPPs and determines the importance of each of their components for the successful implementation of PPPs, which will be relevant for Ukraine, especially at the stage of post-war reconstruction of critical infrastructure. The results of the study provide systematized information that will be useful for civil authorities, potential investors, and the scientific community.

PECULIARITIES OF DEBT POLICY AND DEBT SECURITY CRITERIA UNDER MILITARY AGGRESSION

PECULIARITIES OF DEBT POLICY AND DEBT SECURITY CRITERIA UNDER MILITARY AGGRESSION

Preventing Catastrophic Cyber–Physical Attacks on the Global Maritime Transportation System: A Case Study of Hybrid Maritime Security in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore

This paper examines hybrid threats to maritime transportation systems and their governance responses; focusing on the congested Straits of Malacca and Singapore (SOMS) as an illustrative case study. The methodology combines secondary sources with primary data from 42 expert interviews, a 28 respondent survey, and two maritime security roundtables. Key findings were that ships’ critical systems are increasingly interconnected, yet aging IT infrastructure and minimal cybersecurity awareness among crews heighten risks. Meanwhile, regional terrorist groups have previously targeted shipping and shown considerable skill in exploiting online tools, aligning with broader calls for jihadist violence. Furthermore, opportunistic piracy persists in the SOMS with the potential to disrupt shipping. Experts confirmed that maritime cybersecurity lags behind other critical infrastructure sectors and needs updated governance. Initial International Maritime Organization (IMO) guidelines lack specificity but revisions and updated IMO guidance are in process, while Port state implementation of maritime cybersecurity standards varies. Crucially, information sharing remains inadequate, even as recorded attacks increase. Findings underscore that although major hybrid incidents have not occurred, simulations and threat actors’ capabilities demonstrate potential for catastrophic collisions or cascading disruption in congested waterways. Mitigating factors like redundancy and crew training are deficient currently. Some alignment between SOMS states on maritime security cooperation exists, but not on cyber threats specifically. Key recommendations include an anonymous cyber attack reporting system, reinforced training and shipboard systems, and consolidated regional frameworks. Until these priorities are addressed, the analysis concludes that hybrid vulnerabilities in this vital global chokepoint remain a serious concern.

A Systematic Survey on 5G and 6G Security Considerations, Challenges, Trends, and Research Areas

With the rapid rollout and growing adoption of 3GPP 5thGeneration (5G) cellular services, including in critical infrastructure sectors, it is important to review security mechanisms, risks, and potential vulnerabilities within this vital technology. Numerous security capabilities need to work together to ensure and maintain a sufficiently secure 5G environment that places user privacy and security at the forefront. Confidentiality, integrity, and availability are all pillars of a privacy and security framework that define major aspects of 5G operations. They are incorporated and considered in the design of the 5G standard by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) with the goal of providing a highly reliable network operation for all. Through a comprehensive review, we aim to analyze the ever-evolving landscape of 5G, including any potential attack vectors and proposed measures to mitigate or prevent these threats. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the state-of-the-art research that has been conducted in recent years regarding 5G systems, focusing on the main components in a systematic approach: the Core Network (CN), Radio Access Network (RAN), and User Equipment (UE). Additionally, we investigate the utilization of 5G in time-dependent, ultra-confidential, and private communications built around a Zero Trust approach. In today’s world, where everything is more connected than ever, Zero Trust policies and architectures can be highly valuable in operations containing sensitive data. Realizing a Zero Trust Architecture entails continuous verification of all devices, users, and requests, regardless of their location within the network, and grants permission only to authorized entities. Finally, developments and proposed methods of new 5G and future 6G security approaches, such as Blockchain technology, post-quantum cryptography (PQC), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) schemes, are also discussed to understand better the full landscape of current and future research within this telecommunications domain.

Proposed Methodology for Climate Change Adaptation of Water Infrastructures in the Mediterranean Region

Water Infrastructure (WI) is one of the most important sectors of Critical Infrastructure (CI); it encompasses drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater. The WI is vulnerable to the effects of Climate Change (CC) that can disrupt its functionality; thus, it needs to be adapted to CC, especially in the Mediterranean region, where these effects are expected to intensify during the twenty-first century. For this adaptation a Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (CRVA) is required in the development of WI to identify the important climate hazards and to recommend the required measures for the adaptation of the WI to these hazards. In the present work, a CRVA methodology is developed and presented based on a literature survey and the relevant European Commission guidelines; it is structured around five key steps: (1) Description of the WI, (2) Climate change assessment, (3) Vulnerability assessment, (4) Risk assessment, and (5) Assessment of adaptation measures. The application of the methodology is illustrated indicatively to a wastewater system in Greece for which preliminary estimations are performed, results are discussed, and conclusions are drawn. The proposed methodology can be modified for application to other sectors of CI; moreover, is a valuable resource in academic curricula and ongoing research initiatives.

An equilibrium optimizer with deep recurrent neural networks enabled intrusion detection in secure cyber-physical systems

<abstract> <p>Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are characterized by their integration of physical processes with computational and communication components. These systems are utilized in various critical infrastructure sectors, including energy, healthcare, transportation, and manufacturing, making them attractive targets for cyberattacks. Intrusion detection system (IDS) has played a pivotal role in identifying and mitigating cyber threats in CPS environments. Intrusion detection in secure CPSs is a critical component of ensuring the integrity, availability, and safety of these systems. The deep learning (DL) algorithm is extremely applicable for detecting cyberattacks on IDS in CPS systems. As a core element of network security defense, cyberattacks can change and breach the security of network systems, and then an objective of IDS is to identify anomalous behaviors and act properly to defend the network from outside attacks. Deep learning (DL) and Machine learning (ML) algorithms are crucial for the present IDS. We introduced an Equilibrium Optimizer with a Deep Recurrent Neural Networks Enabled Intrusion Detection (EODRNN-ID) technique in the Secure CPS platform. The main objective of the EODRNN-ID method concentrates mostly on the detection and classification of intrusive actions from the platform of CPS. During the proposed EODRNN-ID method, a min-max normalization algorithm takes place to scale the input dataset. Besides, the EODRNN-ID method involves EO-based feature selection approach to choose the feature and lessen high dimensionality problem. For intrusion detection, the EODRNN-ID technique exploits the DRNN model. Finally, the hyperparameter related to the DRNN model can be tuned by the chimp optimization algorithm (COA). The simulation study of the EODRNN-ID methodology is verified on a benchmark data. Extensive results display the significant performance of the EODRNN-ID algorithm when compared to existing techniques.</p> </abstract>

The Influence of the Design Features of the Submersible Pump Rotor on the Vibration Reliability

Pumping equipment consumes about 20 % of the electrical energy produced by humankind. A significant, even drastic, reduction in the weight and size indicators of pumping equipment leads to a decrease in the cost price and, therefore, competitiveness of such products in the market. Simultaneously, it makes it possible to use more valuable and high-quality construction materials and technologies that improve the reliability of equipment and its energy efficiency, which in turn is a clear step in solving many UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to the research results, it was proved that by increasing the frequency of the drive, it is possible to reduce the mass and size indicators of the submersible pump for the needs of the critical infrastructure sector by reducing the number of stages. Mainly, the amplitudes of oscillations near the rotation frequency are 12–22 % and do not exceed 35 % of the gaps in the seals, as required by the available international standards to ensure the guaranteed vibration reliability of the pump. Overall, using a bearingless support design will significantly increase the reliability of the developed pump.

A Combinatorial Optimization Analysis Method for Detecting Malicious Industrial Internet Attack Behaviors

Industrial Internet plays an important role in key critical infrastructure sectors and is the target of different security threats and risks. There are limitations in many existing attack detection approaches, such as function redundancy, overfitting and low efficiency. A combinatorial optimization method Lagrange multiplier is designed to optimize the underlying feature screening algorithm. The optimized feature combination is fused with random forest and XG-Boost selected features to improve the accuracy and efficiency of attack feature analysis. Using both the UNSW-NB15 and Natural gas pipeline datasets, we evaluate the performance of the proposed method. It is observed that the influence degrees of the different features associated with the attack behavior can result in the binary classification attack detection increases to 0.93, and the attack detection time reduces by 6.96 times. The overall accuracy of multi-classification attack detection is also observed to improve by 0.11. We also observe that nine key features of attack behavior analysis are essential to the analysis and detection of general attacks targeting the system, and by focusing on these features one could potentially improve the effectiveness and efficiency of real-time critical industrial system security. In this paper, CICDDoS2019 dataset and CICIDS2018 dataset are used to prove the generalization. The experimental results show that the proposed method has good generalization and can be extended to the same type of industrial anomaly data sets.

How internet blackouts affect information flows in organizations - Analyzing cascade effects and feedback loops

The high dependency on information and communication technologies (ICT) and the growing risk of interconnected crises such as internet blackouts increase the need for resilience. Enhancing the understanding of internet blackouts is crucial for informed disaster response systems. This paper analyzes how internet blackouts affect information flows in organizations. It contains highly interdisciplinary expertise achieved through expert interviews and feedback workshops with critical infrastructure (CI) sector representatives. Unlike other studies, this study investigates the disaster response phase from a meta-level perspective. By establishing Causal-Loop-Diagrams (CLDs), the impacts of internet blackouts on information flows in organizations are visualized and analyzed. A Building Block Model, consisting of generic blocks applicable to organizations of different economic sectors, is introduced. An adaption to sector-specific requirements is demonstrated for the transport and health sector. Furthermore, our research provides a guideline on practical measures to mitigate incidents during the disaster response phase.

First step into automation of security assessment of critical infrastructures

Critical infrastructures have been undergoing significant developments resulting from new economy and society driven trends and demands. In the energy supply, decentralization and digitalization are the key processes that push a significant amount of innovation and movement into the networking of many distributed information and operational technology based energy systems. These advancements bring substantial benefits, but expose the underlying systems to a number of risks at the same time. In response, governments and sector-specific organizations have published a series of regulatory requirements and guidelines on cybersecurity for the industry and especially for critical infrastructures. This article describes a practical approach to conducting cybersecurity assessments for critical infrastructures in the form of an extended gap analysis. The goal is to develop a technique for analyzing gaps between the security measures already implemented, and the recommendations formulated in the legal acts and standards for different critical infrastructure sectors. The methodology includes several assessment steps and layers to address a wide range of security controls of existing standards, taking into account the limitations of conducting such security analyses in the operational environment, especially of power supply systems. In addition, a possible automation strategy for the initial phase of the security assessment is presented, in which information about the assets under investigation is collected and the appropriate security measures are identified. The presented approach has been developed and practically tested for a digital substation of a local German energy grid operator.

Supply Chain Threats Persist

Since early 2020, critical infrastructure sectors have endured myriad conditions that have threatened their continuity of operations. Most business entities are not autonomous or self-sufficient; rather they depend on a complex and often global supply chain of essential goods and services—this is certainly true of drinking water and wastewater systems. Supply chain matters were a roller coaster last year, and several of those challenging supply chain conditions will persist into 2023 and beyond. The following is a high-level summary of supply chain challenges and their effects on operational continuity in the water sector. The February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine exacerbated existing COVID-19-related stress on commodity markets, triggering price shocks in food and fuel. The reduction in natural gas exports from Russia has caused significant increases in the cost and availability of anhydrous ammonia—prices have spiked over last year to roughly $1,400 per ton in late 2022. This has direct budgetary impacts on water treatment operations, especially systems that use chloramines as a disinfectant. Also, Russia is the world's largest producer of fertilizer, and reductions in fertilizer exports have had far-ranging effects. Shifts in fertilizer markets have caused China—the world's largest exporter of phosphorus—to restrict exports in 2023. In addition to escalating costs, water systems in several states have reported availability issues with phosphate corrosion inhibitors. In mid-2022, a long-term railroad labor dispute resulted in government intervention to negotiate a contract. An 11th-hour agreement in September averted a strike that came very close to cutting off the supply of chlorine and other critical treatment products that are transported by rail. Subsequent votes by the various labor unions to ratify terms had mixed results and again threatened a strike in early December. Water sector associations urged President Biden and Congress to intervene, and ultimately Congress passed legislation that prevented a nationwide rail strike; it should be noted that the contract will end in 2024. Policy factors have also complicated supply chain issues. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed new rules in 2022 that could have direct impacts on the water sector. The most concerning change was the proposal to ban the use of asbestos diaphragms in chlorine production, which would affect 50% of the retail market that supplies the water sector. This rule would require chlor-alkali plants to switch to an alternative method within two to three years, with an estimated cost burden that is 119,000–287,000 times greater than the expected health benefits. Water associations called on EPA to provide a more reasonable timeline for the transition to ensure the availability of chlorine for water sector operations. This request noted the statutory obligation that EPA has under Section 1441 of the Safe Drinking Water Act to ensure the reasonable availability of critical drinking water and wastewater treatment chemicals and materials. This regulatory pressure is amplified by external factors and basic economic principles. Overall demand for various materials slumped during the height of the pandemic. In late 2021, as economic activity returned, the demand for products quickly outpaced supply. Currently, pipe manufacturers are reporting delivery timelines of 15–24 months, and similar delays in other manufactured goods have been observed. If you factor in the massive infusion of federal infrastructure funds for projects of all types, including water-related improvements, the inflationary impacts are notable. The boost in funding for infrastructure programs is welcomed, but the reality is that current economic conditions mean utility customers will be paying more for less. Chemical supply is a prime example of recent challenges. Numerous systems throughout the nation experienced significant delivery disruptions and major spikes in the unit cost of chlorine. AWWA has found that the average cost for each ton of chlorine delivered has increased more than 120%. That alone has had significant budgetary impacts on many water systems and ultimately the rate payers. Last year, one southeastern utility reported that it recently spent an additional $1 million on chlorine—money that will not be spent on operations and maintenance needs. In some instances, chlorine production has been reduced because of disasters, equipment malfunctions, and facility closures. As a result, systems must adjust to chemical costs that are 10 times what systems budgeted. Rate payers will bear the burden of these economic changes. These supply chain issues will likely persist into 2024. Assessing supply chain dependencies will help utilities consider options to mitigate the impacts. Kevin M. Morley is manager of federal relations at the AWWA Government Affairs Office in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at [email protected].

Design of a Novel Information System for Semi-automated Management of Cybersecurity in Industrial Control Systems

There is an urgent need in many critical infrastructure sectors, including the energy sector, for attaining detailed insights into cybersecurity features and compliance with cybersecurity requirements related to their Operational Technology (OT) deployments. Frequent feature changes of OT devices interfere with this need, posing a great risk to customers. One effective way to address this challenge is via a semi-automated cyber-physical security assurance approach, which enables verification and validation of the OT device cybersecurity claims against actual capabilities, both pre- and post-deployment. To realize this approach, this article presents new methodology and algorithms to automatically identify cybersecurity-related claims expressed in natural language form in ICS device documents. We developed an identification process that employs natural language processing (NLP) techniques with the goal of semi-automated vetting of detected claims against their device implementation. We also present our novel NLP components for verifying feature claims against relevant cybersecurity requirements. The verification pipeline includes components such as automated vendor identification, device document curation, feature claim identification utilizing sentiment analysis for conflict resolution, and reporting of features that are claimed to be supported or indicated as unsupported. Our novel matching engine represents the first automated information system available in the cybersecurity domain that directly aids the generation of ICS compliance reports.

Strengthening Resilience of Electricity Critical Infrastructure in the Context of Railway Transport

The energy sector is crucial in the critical infrastructure system, since other critical infrastructure sectors are dependent on energy supplies. Electricity infrastructure is one of the key sectors of critical infrastructure and, moreover, this sector has been recognized as uniquely critical. This makes it necessary to ensure a high level of protection of energy sector elements, especially by strengthening their resilience. A power outage would have a negative effect on dependent subsystems of critical infrastructure (e.g. transport). The electricity sector is constantly exposed to negative threats; therefore, it is important that the electricity elements achieve a high level of resilience, which in the critical infrastructure system is defined as the ability to reduce the extent and/or duration of disruptive events, absorb negative phenomena, and adapt or quickly recover from potentially dangerous events. The key output of this paper is the proposal of a procedure for strengthening the resilience of electricity critical infrastructure. By applying tools to strengthen resilience, the element becomes more resilient to internal and external negative phenomena, thereby reducing its vulnerability. This results in the strengthening of the resilience of dependent elements of the railway critical infrastructure.

RESEARCH OF DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION OF CYBER PROTECTION AT CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITIES

Critical infrastructure objects — infrastructure objects, systems, their parts and their totality, which are important for the economy, national security and defense, the malfunctioning of which can harm vital national interests. Classification of objects as critical infrastructure is carried out in accordance with the procedure established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The assignment of banks, other entities operating in the financial services markets, state regulation and supervision of the activities of which is carried out by the National Bank of Ukraine, payment organizations, participants of payment systems, operators of payment infrastructure services is carried out in accordance with the procedure established by the National Bank of Ukraine. Classification of objects to critical infrastructure, which carry out activities on the service markets, state regulation and supervision of the activities of which are carried out by state bodies, is carried out in accordance with the procedure established by such state bodies. Given the importance of cyber security in today's world, critical infrastructure objects are becoming a special target for cyber criminals and cyber threats. These facilities include energy systems, transportation, communication networks, medical facilities and other important sectors that ensure the necessary functioning of society. This article aims to analyze and review modern approaches used to ensure cyber security at critical infrastructure facilities. Research and implementation of the latest strategies and approaches in this area can help increase the level of protection of important systems, as well as detect and respond to new cyber threats, maintaining the reliability and functioning of society as a whole. The main aspects that should be considered when developing innovative approaches to protecting critical infrastructure objects from cyber threats: predictive threat analysis: Understanding potential cyber threats and their impact on critical infrastructure facilities. Detection of new attack vectors and vulnerabilities; development and implementation of the latest technologies: Use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and other innovative technologies in the field of cyber defense to prevent attacks and detect security breaches; creation of integrated protection strategies, development of flexible and comprehensive cyber protection strategies that take into account the specifics of each sector of critical infrastructure objects and its needs; introduction of international standards and regulations, cooperation at the international level to establish a unified system of cyber protection standards and rules for critical infrastructure facilities. Cyber defense is constantly evolving, given the constant growth in the number and complexity of cyber threats. To increase the security of critical infrastructure facilities, it is important to consider a number of modern technological trends in cyber protection, namely: artificial intelligence and machine learning; blockchain and cryptography; Internet of Things (IoT) and protection of embedded systems; threat analytics and attack detection; automated means of protection; protection at the level of data processing. The study and implementation of these technological trends in the critical infrastructure sector allows to respond to the complexity of modern cyber threats and provides an increase in the security of systems in real time.

A Survey on Industrial Control System Digital Forensics: Challenges, Advances and Future Directions

Operational Technology (OT) systems have become increasingly interconnected and automated, consequently resulting in them becoming targets of cyber attacks, with the threat towards a range of critical national infrastructure (CNI) sectors becoming heightened. This is particularly the case for Industrial Control Systems (ICS), which control and operate the physical processes in CNI sectors such as water treatment, electrical generation and manufacturing. Unlike information technology (IT) systems, ICS have unique cyber-physical characteristics and related safety requirements, making them an attractive target for attacks given the physical consequences that can occur. As a result, the requirement to respond and learn from previous and new attacks is also increasing, with digital forensics playing a significant role in this process. The aim of this paper is to discuss the main issues and existing limitations related to ICS digital forensic. The field of ICS digital forensics is relatively under-developed and does not have the same levels of maturity as IT digital forensics. Although the amount of research on cyber security for ICS is increasing, many unique challenges still exist that pose as barriers to the development and deployment of ICS forensic capabilities. We provide an extensive discussion on these challenges, categorising them into technical, socio-technical, and operational and legal themes. Furthermore, the relationship between these challenge themes as well as the inter-challenge dependencies are also examined. Furthermore, this work discusses ICS forensic advances in relation to the digital forensics life chain, specifically forensic readiness and investigations. The areas of digital forensic training and processes models for ICS are given particular focus. Moreover, we assess the technologies and tools that have been either applied to or developed for ICS components and networks, giving special attention to forensic acquisition and analysis methods. An examination into the specific ICS digital forensic data sources and artefacts is also presented, highlighting that until recently, this was limited to descriptions of generic data formats. In addition, this paper provides an overview of several key ICS attacks, summarising the specific techniques used, data artefacts of interest, and proposing lessons learnt. Finally, this paper presents open discussions on future ICS digital forensics research directions and on-going issues, covering both short and long-term areas that can be addressed to improve the ICS digital forensics capability.

Uloga korporativne bezbednosti u zaštiti kritične infrastrukture Republike Srbije

Critical infrastructure can be presented as an element of the state necessary for its functioning and at the same time a condition for performing basic functions and providing state services to its citizens. On the other hand, corporate security can be presented as a set of functions aimed at protecting all the values of the entity in which it (corporate security) is incorporated, from all threats, regardless of their origin, type and intensity, through proactive and/or reactive activities. The work is based on the idea that, in addition to the state and its authorities, corporate security significantly contributes to the protection of critical infrastructure, as a form of security established within all entities that manage systems, networks, facilities or their parts that are designated as critical infrastructure. After the analysis of the critical infrastructure sector in the Republic of Serbia and neighboring countries and the situation related to its protection in our country, as well as a brief review of the importance of corporate security for the state and its national security, the aim of the paper is to present the way in which corporate security, through its functions, ensures and contributes to the overall protection of critical infrastructure.

The Basis for Strengthening Organisational Resilience of Critical Transport Infrastructure Entities

As a result of the increase in threats and the growing severity of their impact, there is a need to place increasing emphasis on the protection of critical infrastructure. Transport critical infrastructure is one of the indispensable sectors for the proper functioning of the internal market and the realisation of long-term strategic objectives, especially in the area of competitiveness. Thus, in an effort to minimize the emergence or impact of threats to this type of critical infrastructure, the issue of resilience is coming to the fore. The concept of strengthening resilience represents one of the possible approaches that can be used not only to protect elements of critical transport infrastructure, but also to protect the entities that own or operate these elements. For this reason, the aim of the article is to present the starting points for strengthening organizational resilience that can be applied in the transport critical infrastructure sector.

PRACTICAL APPROACHES TO ORGANIZING SECURE DATA TRANSFER VIA TLS PROTOCOL USING OPENSSL MEANS

Information protection during message transmission is one of the most important tasks in the modern world. The workstations of a particular organization can be well protected using different software and hardware means, but when information is transferred to an open unprotected space, there is a high probability of data leakage, interception, and substitution. In most cases, the use of insufficiently effective security measures causes the loss of personal data of citizens, data of an enterprise or organization that is a commercial secret, information with limited access or even state secrets of the critical infrastructure sector. In this case, it is considered appropriate to use modern cryptographic methods to organize secure data transmission. Considering the ever-growing statistics of cyberattacks on information and telecommunication networks, after in-depth analysis and development of this issue, the authors of the article highlighted the current directions of protection of information and telecommunication networks and security solutions in information and telecommunication networks. The authors have comprehensively covered and investigated the basic principles of the modern state of data transmission security and the organization of information protection during its transmission using the TLS protocol, which made it possible to determine the directions for solving or modernizing existing information security means. Also, attention is paid to the development of a software implementation of the module for secure data transmission in the information and telecommunications network using the improved TLS protocol by means of OpenSSL, which made it possible to establish connections using digital signature algorithms. The authors are planning a series of scientific and technical solutions for the development and implementation of effective cryptographic methods to ensure the security of information and telecommunications networks

Cyber Trust Index: A Framework for Rating and Improving Cybersecurity Performance

Cybersecurity risk is among the top risks that every organization must consider and manage, especially during this time wherein technology has become an integral part of our lives; however, there is no efficient and simplified measurement method that organizations or regulators could use, as frequently as they need, to evaluate and compare the outcome of cybersecurity efforts that have been put in place. Consequently, this has resulted in an absence of critical data for cybersecurity improvement. This research proposes a Cyber Trust Index (CTI), a novel and simplified framework for evaluating, benchmarking, and improving organizations’ cybersecurity performance. Methods: The researchers analyzed prominent scientific research papers and widely used security standards to develop baseline security controls that serve as a measurement foundation. Then, they identified Control Enablers and Capability Tiers that were used as base measures and measurement methods. The CTI framework was evaluated by experts and tested with 35 organizations from the critical information infrastructure (CII) sector, as well as other generic sectors, in Thailand to confirm its validity and reliability in real organization settings and identify the priorities and factors that can contribute to better cybersecurity performance. Results: The CTI has two key elements: the baseline controls and rating methods. The baseline controls comprise 12 dimensions, 25 clusters, and 70 controls. The rating methods utilize five control enablers and five capability tiers to compute scores. A binary questionnaire is used to capture data for the rating process. Based on a statistical analysis of CTI results from 35 pilot organizations, 28.57% are in the beginner group with high-risk exposure, 31.43% are in the leader group with low-risk exposure, and 40% of organizations are in between (the intermediate and advanced groups). Two key factors distinguish between the beginner and leader groups: (1) an internal factor, which is the Control Enablers; and (2) an external factor, which is the influence of a cyber regulating body. Our study confirms that Control Enablers in higher Tiers will help organizations achieve better cybersecurity performance (R = 0.98021) and highlights the significance of cyber regulating bodies by showing a shear difference of 197.53% in cyber performance between highly regulated and low-regulated industries. Conclusions: This research reveals key insights into the importance of Control Enablers, which are the internal factors that organizations must leverage to drive better cybersecurity performance, and the positive return on enforcement, which emphasizes the need for cyber regulating bodies. The CTI framework has proven to be valid and efficient for measuring cybersecurity performance. At the very least, a step-wise roadmap is provided for organizations and regulators to adopt and adapt the CTI framework for their cybersecurity measurement and improvement mission.