Congress steers clear of industrial control systems cybersecurity

From csoonline.com

Industry resistance to regulation, complexity of securing ICS systems are roadblocks to passage of critical infrastructure cybersecurity legislation.

Rule number one about legislation affecting the cybersecurity of industrial control systems (ICS) is that no one talks about legislation affecting the cybersecurity of ICS. At least it seems that way based on a number of attempts to get industry stakeholders to talk on the record about the prospects in the 116th Congress for any legislation that affects critical infrastructure, specifically as it relates to industrial control systems.

Although a number of cybersecurity-related bills have been introduced in the new Congress, only a handful of relatively non-controversial pieces of legislation, most reintroduced from the last Congress, deal primarily with critical infrastructure industrial control systems, a surprise given the stepped-up concerns over threats to the nation’s electric grids, gas and oil pipelines, transportation systems and dams and the rise of industrial supply chain issues that have grabbed headlines over the past few years.

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