Last week, UIC participated in the 3rd General Assembly of the European Rail ISAC (ER-ISAC), co-hosted by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, ENISA.
The ISAC (Information Sharing and Analysis Centre) meeting allowed IT professionals from 40 organisations in the rail sector to discuss cybersecurity issues, including challenges and incidents faced over the past year. Experts built on their shared experiences and lessons learned in regard to prominent cybersecurity threats in the rail sector.
The closed-door meeting also included a series of presentations from partners on projects that enhance the sector’s cybersecurity procedures across Europe. Best practice was shared by railway operators, as well as current and future technological and policy developments in the sector. UIC participated in this General Assembly through a welcome speech given by François Davenne, Director General, and reflected on the importance of cybersecurity in the sector.
He particularly highlighted that cybersecurity is a very important topic for UIC, by reminding the meeting that the typical mission of UIC is to bring the expertise of railways together, looking for specifications convergence and aligned vision between players. He said: “we need to collaborate more on issues such as cybersecurity. This topic is seen as an essential point for the railway system. The introduction of 5G (FRMCS) will bring a lot of new possibilities, but will also open our networks to potential cyber- attacks. Generally speaking, the on-going transition towards IP of all our critical networks, such as signalling and energy track side, will also create some entry points to cyberhackers. ER-ISAC can play an essential role in this new situation, a key role of coordination, sharing of information, and also strategic vision for the railway cybersecurity. Obviously, the support of ENISA to ER-ISAC and UIC will be absolutely key, and we thank ENISA for hosting this event.”
Jean-Michel Evanghelou, Head of Telecoms & Signalling and Deputy Director of UIC Rail System Department as well as Dan Mandoc, Head of FRMCS, UIC, also brought key inputs in the meeting. Dan Mandoc presented the UIC FRMCS projects and plans.
Finally, as an invited guest, EUROCONTROL provided insights on threat intelligence in the aviation sector.
ENISA has played a significant role in supporting the ER-ISAC from the start, and is currently drafting a study on cybersecurity in the rail sector.
For more information on ENISA’s work in the area of ISACs please visit: https://www.enisa.europa.eu/topics/national-cyber-security-strategies/information-sharing
