Our picks: Critical infrastructurePhysical- & Cybersecurity | Sea Walls | Responding to SolarWinds, and more

Published 6 September 2021

·  ICS Vulnerabilities
ICS vulnerabilities increased by 41% in six months

·  Physical- & Cybersecurity
Merging physical security & cybersecurity

·  The Two Louisianas
One Louisiana with storm walls, the other without

·  No Coastal Walls for Miami-Dade
Proposed tall concrete wall though Biscayne Bay is dead

·  Responding to the SolarWinds Hack
The scramble to respond to the massive hack

ICS Vulnerabilities Increased by 41% in Six Months amidst High Profile Attacks on Critical Infrastructure  (Alicia Hope, CPOMagazine)
Critical infrastructure like industrial control systems (ICS) experienced increased frequency of high and critical vulnerabilities, according to a new report.
Claroty’s biannual ICS Risk & Vulnerability Report found that reported ICS vulnerabilities disclosed in the first half of 2021 had increased by 41%.

Why Should You Merge Physical Security and Cybersecurity?  (Dan Lohrman, Govtech)
For more than a decade there have been calls to merge physical and cybersecurity in global organizations. Is this the right time? What are the benefits?

Ida Reveals Two Louisianas: One with Storm Walls, another without  (Richard Fausset, Sophie Kasakove and Christopher Flavelle, New York Times)
A massive flood protection system built around New Orleans helped save it from flooding during Hurricane Ida. Surrounding communities, which weren’t so lucky, want their own system.

Miami-Dade Rejects Coastal Walls. It’s Back to Drawing Board for Hurricane Protection  (Alex Harris, Miami Herald)
A proposal to protect coastal Miami-Dade from hurricanes by running a tall concrete wall though Biscayne Bay and waterfront neighborhoods is — unsurprisingly — dead.
The county on Monday formally rejected the plan, part of an instantly controversial $4.6 billion proposal from the Army Corps of Engineers that also included elevating thousands of private homes, flood-proofing thousands of businesses, planting mangroves and installing flood gates at the mouths of rivers and canals. Instead, the county will work with the Corps to come up with a new plan over the next year or so.
While the public and political leaders liked many of the Corps’ original ideas to address the rising risks of storm surge, there was little support for the walls.

Inside the Response to the Massive Russian SolarWinds Hack  (Ina Fried, Axios)
Seizing upon a flaw in software from SolarWinds, Russian hackers spent months leisurely probing the computer systems of dozens of businesses and government agencies. By contrast, when the intrusion was detected, tech companies and government agencies had to scramble to close the hole, assess damage and try to learn techniques to block future attacks.
Fresh details on how Microsoft, SolarWinds, GoDaddy and various government agencies managed the response to last winter’s massive security failure are included in an update to a book co-authored by Microsoft president and longtime top lawyer Brad Smith.