Petras website

Digital Railway – Cyber security in a Modern Railway System

Calling all: CTOs, IT Analysts, Operations and wannabe IT geeks!

NSAR is excited to be involved and partnered with PETRAS (a research consortium focused on the future implementation of the Internet of Things (IoT)) , UCL and other rail partners in a project exploring the impact of emerging technologies within rail and how to mitigate risk from cyber attacks on our modern railway infrastructure.

NSAR’s interest stems from needing to gain deeper insight into one area of weakness within cyber security which is around the people and social interaction with their environment. In our mission to provide guidance on training requirements and skill sets – both hard and soft, for the rail sector, as we embrace greater digital solutions, we look forward to seeing insightful outcomes.

PETRAS is seeking input into their research project on cybersecurity risks in relation to rail signalling and would like those involved in digital transformation within the rail sector to contribute to their work. If your organisation would like to be involved in this important project which will benefit the rail sector as a whole, read on to find out more about the project.

Project aims and objectives:

  • Identify emerging cybersecurity risks to rail signalling and control enabled IoT integration, and develop appropriate specification for security measures, skills and competencies.
  • Analyse and model security threats to rail signalling and control considering component interconnectivities, interactions, and interdependencies, and develop AI-based anomaly detection.
  • Investigate how socio-technical security thinking and modelling fit within evolving rail infrastructure protection approaches, and create recommendations for supply and service chains and procurements.
  • Investigate how to improve awareness on emerging socio-technical cybersecurity risks in modern railway systems, and develop an adaptive security solution for mitigating risk impacts on IoT-enabled modern railway systems (MRSs).

For those interested in taking part, the topics to be covered will be:

  • Adoption of IoT and security risks and modelling (enablers & barriers)
  • IoT security risk awareness, security competencies
  • Socio-technical security factors and attributes
  • Decision-making process for modelling security
  • Methods used to evaluate security models/tools for adoption.

 What would I need to do if I want to get involved?

At least one of the following:

  • Take part in interviews or focus groups
  • Provide a use case environment
  • Workshop/seminar participation to draw out industry environment insights
  • Undertake a survey on existing security risks, and modelling approaches – to help PETRAS understand perspectives, applications, maturity, and use practice

To find out more about PETRAS click here!

If you or someone in your company would like to find out more and get involved, please contact:

Steven Copeland  steven.copeland@nsar.co.uk

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