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Friday News and Notes

A popular week for cyber security in the press this week including a big article on cyber security jobs in the USA Today.

  • The US House passed Bill 422-5 that would establish a college scholarship program for students who agree to work as cybersecurity specialists for the USG after graduation.
  • At the same time, Obama Administration’s proposed budget cut funding for the DHS cybersecurity division. I was actually surprised by this given the spending binge, and the rhetorical importance he has paid to cyber security.
  • Waterfall received a US Patent for “Protection of control networks using a one-way link”. Congratulations, but I continue to be amazed what the US Patent Office considers novel and the very limited consideration of prior art. This is not a negative view of the Waterfall product or one-way; we are bullish on the use of one-way in specific control system situations. It is a negative view of the US Patent Office and Law.
  • The 2nd Draft of NIST’s Smart Grid Cyber Security Strategy and Requirements is now online. From conversations at S4 I know they are hoping more in the community will provide their expertise and review and comment on these documents.
  • There is some cyber security info in the January edition of NERC News that is now available online. It is full time job keeping up with all the developments and efforts around NERC CIP standards development and interpretation efforts.

    • Author: Dale Peterson
    Posted: February 5th, 2010 under Uncategorized.
    Comments: 1

    Comments

    Comment from Ragnar Schierholz
    Time: February 6, 2010, 4:12 am

    My impression with the patent office is that they are so short of resources and so flooded with applications that they can’t properly check every one. They seem to rather approve things and assume that the details could be figured out if someone challenges the patent (either because of wanting to use technology or because of having used the technology and now facing an infringement case). I think that’s a very short term saving though and it ridicules the patent system as such.

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