Fact Sheet: Joint Statement on Cyber Security
/THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release
FACT SHEET
Cyber Security of Industrial Control and Plant Systems at Nuclear Facilities
Nuclear facilities deploy a myriad of technologies and digital assets as an essential component of well-balanced safety, security and safeguards programs. The use of digital technologies has greatly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of industrial control systems, but it is crucial that these systems are able to withstand malicious attacks or accidental damage. On-going efforts to mitigate the vulnerabilities of information management systems need to extend to industrial control systems.
The United Kingdom has sponsored a Gift Basket on Cyber Security of Industrial Control and Plant Systems and Nuclear Facilities to increase attention in this area. As called for in this statement, the United States will participate in the two international workshops on this topic and highlight the findings at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) International Conference on Nuclear Security in December 2016. The United States will also continue to work with willing partners to develop and implement policies that address the dynamic and global nature of the cyber threat, so as to enable risk informed decisions about how to protect strategic national assets. This will include a joint U.S.-UK civil nuclear exercise, building on the successful Resilient Shield exercise held last November between the and U.S. and UK financial sectors, designed to test government and industry response to cybersecurity threats.
These efforts complement our efforts to promote broad international affirmation of voluntary norms of responsible state behavior in peacetime, including that states should not conduct or knowingly support online activity that intentionally damages critical infrastructure or otherwise impairs the use of critical infrastructure to provide services to the public.