This Week in Critical Infrastructure we look at the latest news on continuing efforts to address infrastructure at the federal level, analysis of how mass rail transit can shape smart cities, potential new rules from FERC regarding reports of attempted cyber attacks, and the latest information on newly discovered flaw affecting nearly all computer processors released in the past two decades.
Business Insider‘s Michal Kranz writes on President Trump’s renewed interest in addressing infrastructure following the derailment of an Amtrak train in Washington late last year. While transportation systems nationwide are in dire need of maintenance and upgrades, some concerns remain regarding the adequacy of proposals to address the scale of the problems facing national infrastructure investment.
A railway’s role in the modern Smart City
In this piece from Railway Technology, Eva Grey discusses the ways railways and public transit can enhance the resilience and sustainability of smart cities. Integration with wireless data technology and new applications that gather data on and react to passenger activity are just a few of the tools that will enable mass rail transit to be responsive to the growing, shifting needs of the expanding urban populace.
FERC Proposes Mandatory Reporting of Attempted Cybersecurity Compromises
Sonal Patel writes for Power magazine on proposed revisions to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Reliability Standards that would require reporting of cybersecurity incidents and attempts to compromise networks connected to vital electricity systems.
Kernel panic! What are Meltdown and Spectre, the bugs affecting nearly every computer and device?
For TechCrunch, Devin Coldewey reports on news that two recently released exploits, called Meltdown and Spectre, that together affect nearly all processors used in computers over the past two decades. By attacking vulnerabilities in the processor architecture, these bugs allow a potential attack to intercept data without regard to operating system or other software characteristics.