• U.S. critical infrastructure security response system is broken

    Since its inception, DHS has urged states and cities to establish Fusion Centers to collect information from power companies and water utilities about infrastructure-related incidents with national security implications. There are now seventy-two Fusion Centers in the United States. A recent confusion about the causes of disruption of an Illinois water utility pump raised question about the effectiveness of the Fusion Center information collection and reporting system.

  • Portable wastewater system generates energy, produces drinking water

    Researchers are working to develop a portable wastewater treatment system that could improve the military’s efficiency; the solar-bio-nano project also will generate energy and produce drinking water, thus providing a potential blueprint for the future of municipal/agricultural wastewater treatment systems

  • U.K. unveils new cyber defense strategy

    The U.K. government last week published its new Cyber Security Strategy; the government said the new strategy sets out “how the United Kingdom will support economic prosperity, protect national security, and safeguard the public’s way of life”

  • House Intelligence panel investigates Chinese telecom giants

    As Chinese telecom giants Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp continue to eye the lucrative American market, they have come under increasing scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers who fear their technology could be used by Chinese hackers to steal U.S. secrets; the two Chinese companies are now the subject of a House Intelligence Committee investigation aimed at determining whether they are a threat to the United States

  • DHS: Hackers did not cause Illinois water pump to fail

    Cybersecurity experts and critical infrastructure operators can rest a bit easier now that DHS investigators have determined there is nothing to suggest that hackers caused a water pump to fail in Springfield, Illinois

  • Large-scale power storage for the energy grid

    The sun does not always shine and the wind does not always blow; Stanford University researchers have used nanoparticles of a copper compound to develop a high-power battery electrode that is inexpensive to make, efficient and durable that it could be used to build batteries big enough for economical large-scale energy storage on the electrical grid

  • Pentagon confirms policy of military response to cyberatacks

    In a Pentagon report recently made public, the U.S. military confirmed that it would launch physical strikes in response to cyberattacks

  • U.K. banks pass cyberdefense stress test

    To bolster cyberdefenses in the financial industry, U.K. banks recently took part in a stress test to determine their ability to cope with a cyberattack; eighty-seven banks took participated in the drill including Barclays, HSBC, and Royal Bank of Scotland

  • The increasing risks of GPS systems

    During a recent meeting of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board, participants described how U.S. infrastructure is increasingly at risk due to the widespread use of GPS systems and the presence of interdependencies between different sectors

  • Building design lessons from the Christchurch earthquake

    A leading infrastructure expert believes an assessment needs to be made of the level of “very rare” earthquake that needs to be considered in structural design, perhaps one with a 10,000 year return period or higher, rather than the 500 year return period that is commonly adopted for many buildings in Australia

  • Increasing durability, cutting cost of railroad maintenance

    Every year, companies that own railroad track across the United States spend millions of dollars maintaining ballast, the crushed rock underneath railroad ties and steel rails; in addition to the high cost, railroads must reroute trains around operations that maintain ballast, delaying the delivery of freight; researchers offer a solution

  • DHS investigates attacks on New Jersey water supply

    DHS agents and local authorities in New Jersey are investigating a series of attacks on the West Milford water system; since July there have been more than fifteen attacks on local water and sewage facilities that in some instances have resulted in sewage flooding the street or losses in service all together

  • Electrical grids in state of “chaos,” report finds

    A recent report warned that the world’s electrical grid is in a “state of near chaos,” leaving it vulnerable to a devastating cyberattack; the report, released by Pike Research, found that a simple $60 smart phone app could enable an attack on smart grids due to an aging infrastructure, a lack of standards, and inadequate spending

  • Cyber attacks on critical infrastructure reach U.S.

    Most of the U.S. critical infrastructure is run by computers which are connected to the Internet; this makes them susceptible to cyber attacks; a few days ago, the control system of a water pump in Illinois was taken over by a hacker’s remote command, and then deliberately destroyed; what critical infrastructure facilities will hackers – nerdy teenagers, terrorists, or intelligence operatives of other nations – target next?