Enhancing Computer Security Incident Analysis at Nuclear Facilities

The CRP has been acknowledged as opening up a field of research that was either not available or incredibly burdensome to complete. That is the design and development of targeted computer security measures supporting protection from, detection of, and response to cyber-attacks against nuclear facilities. Previously the only means of embarking on such research was to partner with a nuclear facility and either i) capture data from the facility that would likely be considered sensitive information, or ii) introduce hardware/software within the control system environment in compliance with the local change control processes. Both of these potential approaches were found to be heavily burdensome as they add significant additional engineering time to the development of computer security measures specific to nuclear facilities. The coordinated work performed within the CRP ensured that the development of the components of the Asherah reference hypothetical facility would allow new technologies to be tried and tested against data sets produced by the simulator. These data sets are representative of what would be found within a nuclear facility allowing the early development to occur by research organizations, academia, and other institutions who might not have the resources and connections to partner with a nuclear facility.

CRP results have been published at major IAEA and third-party conferences and in recognized journals and publications. There has been a significant interest in the results and products produced being requested and adopted by other IAEA departments, states (domestically and as part of bilateral nuclear security programmes), competent authorities, academic and private organizations. The outputs have demonstrated value in not just fundamental research but also the practical implementation of ongoing education, training, and awareness activities to advance computer security for nuclear security.