The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has crafted Cybersecurity Framework guidelines addressing positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) data – to strengthen critical infrastructure.
The new guidelines are designed to help mitigate cybersecurity risks endangering systems important to national and economic security, including those underpinning modern finance, transportation, energy, and additional economic sectors. The agency is requesting public comment on the draft by Nov. 23, 2020.
“Our premise is that there are organizations that may not realize they are using PNT data, or know how they are using it,” NIST Senior Security Engineer Jim McCarthy said. “Part of our goal is to help them make these connections so they can protect their operations more effectively.”
The PNT profile is slated to join an expanding list of profiles crafted to help apply the NIST Cybersecurity Framework to particular economic sectors, such as manufacturing, the power grid, and the maritime industry. The profile scope includes any system, network, or additional asset that uses PNT services, including systems receiving and rebroadcasting PNT data.
“The ultimate goals are to identify systems that use PNT data and to detect disturbances to it,” McCarthy said. “Doing so can help mitigate the risk of misuse of PNT data affecting our critical infrastructure, public health, and national security.”