Cybersecurity for railways – A maturity model

Abstract

With the advancements in and widespread adoption of information and communication technologies in infrastructures, cyber-attacks are becoming more frequent and more severe. Advanced cybersecurity threats with automated capabilities are increasing in such sectors as finance, health, grid, retail, government, telecommunications, transportation, etc. Cyber-attacks are also increasing in railways with an impact on railway stakeholders, e.g. threat to the safety of employees, passengers, or the public in general; loss of sensitive railway information; reputational damage; monetary loss; erroneous decisions; loss of dependability, etc. There is a need to move towards advanced security analytics and automation to identify, respond to, and prevent such security breaches. The objective of this research is to reduce cyber risks and vulnerabilities and to improve the cybersecurity capabilities of railways by evaluating their cybersecurity maturity levels and making recommendations for improvements. After assessing various cybersecurity maturity models, the Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model (C2M2) was selected to assess the cybersecurity capabilities of railway organizations. The contributions of this research are as follows. First, a new maturity level MIL4 (Maturity Indicator Level 4) is introduced in the C2M2 model. Second, the C2M2 model is adapted by adding advanced security analytics and threat intelligence to develop the Railway-Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model (R-C2M2). The cybersecurity maturity of three railway organizations is evaluated using this model. Third, recommendations and available standards & guidelines are provided to the three railway organizations to improve maturity levels within different domains. In addition, they are given an action plan to implement the recommendations in a streamlined way. The application of this model will allow railway organizations to improve their capability to reduce the impacts of cyber-attacks and eradicate vulnerabilities. The approach can also be extended to other infrastructures with necessary adaptations.

Information System and Technology Optimization as a Tool for Ensuring the Competitiveness of a Railway Undertaking—Case Study

“…It can be also considered as a complex process that consist of partial operations and a lot of other factors. One of the most vital is the customer-not only as a final segment, but also as a judge for quality and source of incomes [66,69,70]. From his point of view, one of the most important measures is the timetable.…”

Cybersecurity workforce in railway: its maturity and awareness

“…To evaluate the level of maturity and awareness of the existing cybersecurity workforce, various cybersecurity maturity models were studied and compared (Kour et al , 2020). R-C2M2 and ISACM were selected for this research based on the criterion defined by previous research (Kour, 2020).…”

The Cybersecurity Focus Area Maturity (CYSFAM) Model

“…After the deduction process, the complete list of CYSFAM focus areas (11 in total) was established as shown in Table 8. 4. The next step was to determine the capabilities under each focus area by analysing the resources that led the authors to the focus areas.…”

“…The consequences of cyber-attacks are often borderless and expand to societies. Recent research in cybersecurity put forward a diversity of areas to investigate, such as: transportation [4,5], IoT, CPS [6,7], and healthcare [8,9]. Nevertheless, due to the ever-changing nature of cyber-risks, and with the continual inclusion of new assets, organizations need a holistic and persistent approach to cybersecurity.…”