Critical Infrastructure News

Recent years have heralded myriad technological advancements including developments in machine-learning techniques, telecommunications (5G), the internet of things and more. The benefits to industries like aviation are clear. Technological advancements support growth and development, including the integration of new airspace users, the development of advanced aircraft systems and applications, automation and integration in data applications and decision-making systems in airports and airlines, and the interconnection between previously isolated systems through data-sharing across the aviation value chain.

But with new technology comes new threats, which have grown in number and scale as malicious actors use the digital world to make financial gains, cause harm, and/or create instability and chaos.

Read more: HSToday

A nuclear facility in Iran was hit by "sabotage" a day after it unveiled new uranium enrichment equipment, the country's top nuclear official says.

Ali Akbar Salehi did not say who was to blame for the "terrorist act", which caused a power failure at the Natanz complex south of Tehran on Sunday.

Israeli public media, however, cited intelligence sources who said it was the result of an Israeli cyber-attack.

Read more: BBC News

The U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) released Averting Targeted School Violence: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Plots Against Schools, the newest report out of the center. For the first time in agency history, NTAC specifically examines attacks that were successfully prevented.

Averting Targeted School Violence: A U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Plots Against Schools examines 67 plots to conduct a school attack that were averted in the United States from 2006 to 2018. The report was released in conjunction with a virtual presentation to more than 13,000 registered education stakeholders representing all 50 states and 64 countries.

U.S. Secret Service Director James Murray welcomed participants, and noted specifically to participants the role that everyone has to play in preventing the next tragedy.

Read more: HSToday

A 22-year-old man has been indicted for breaking into a Kansas water utility's computer systems and disabling the cleaning and disinfecting operations for the locality's drinking water supply. Wyatt A. Travnichek allegedly hacked into the Ellsworth County Rural Water District No. 1's computer system on March 27, 2019, according to the US Department of Justice.

Travnichek was charged with one count of tampering with a public water system and one count of reckless damage in his unauthorized access to a protected computer. According to the DoJ, his attack was waged "with the intention of harming the Ellsworth Rural Water District No. 1, also known as Post Rock Rural Water District."

Read more: Dark Reading

IBM Security’s annual X-Force Threat Intelligence Index uses data derived from across our teams and managed customers to gather insights about the topmost targeted industries every year, helping organizations manage risk and resource investment in their security programs.

When it comes to managing digital risk and facing potential cyberattacks, each industry faces its own unique attack landscape, as different threat actors, motivations, assets and geopolitical events drive adversarial activity in each sector.

To map the most targeted industries, IBM used data insights from 2020 attacks to look at what can be expected in 2021. The data showed finance, manufacturing and energy at the very top of a list of targeted sectors.

Read more: Security Intelligence