The FISMA Focus IPD

Editor’s Note: For information about security “tweaks” made by Apple at the behest of Chinese regulators, see here.

From: Seeking Alpha

From: InformationWeek/Government

Jai Vijayan

Department of Energy has released a set of voluntary privacy recommendations for smart grid owners, operators, and third parties; industry stakeholders have until October 14 to comment on draft.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) is betting on a voluntary set of standards to guide privacy practices within the smart grid industry.

Earlier this month, the Department publicly released for comment a draft Voluntary Code of Conduct listing a set of privacy recommendations for smart grid owners, operators, and other third parties.

From: NaturalGasIntel.com

Jamison Cocklin

Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told an oil and gas industry audience in Pittsburgh last week that digital security should be a top priority at their companies, adding that current policies are outdated and the threat of cyber attacks grows by the day.

Ridge, a Republican who also served as Pennsylvania’s 43rd governor, said natural disasters, terrorists and foreign countries are among the leading threats to the intricate industrial control systems used by exploration and production companies, midstream operators and suppliers.

From: BankInfoSecurity

Jim Lewis on Terror Cyberthreat, Stalled Cyber Legislation 

By Eric Chabrow

Jim Lewis doesn’t see Congress doing much legislating on cybersecurity, at least for the remainder of the current session that adjourns at year’s end. And the nation won’t be much worse off by the inaction.

Lewis, the highly regarded observer of government cybersecurity efforts, says the nation’s critical IT would be a bit safer if Congress enacted stalled cyberthreat information sharing legislation. “Not a lot safer — information sharing has its limits, but it can be useful,” he says of information sharing legislation (see Why White House Hasn’t Backed CISA).

From: HealthITSecurity

Author Name Patrick Ouellette  

As evidenced by the recent announcement of its medical device and cybersecurity workshop on October 21 and 22, 2014, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking medical device cybersecurity seriously. This stance is further supported by the FDA’s partnership with the National Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (NH-ISAC) to identify, mitigate, and prevent medical device cybersecurity threats.