Business partners newsletter

The National Infrastructure Security Coordination Centre (NISCC) was set up in 1999.

IET commends NISCC best practice guidelines

The role of NISCC is to minimise the risk of electronic attack on the UK's Critical National Infrastructure (CNI).

The CNI is defined as those assets, services and systems that support the economic, political and social life of the UK whose importance is such that any entire or partial loss or compromise could:

cause large scale loss of life
have a serious impact on the national economy
have other grave social consequences for the community
be of immediate concern to the national government

In the UK, the CNI is categorised into ten sectors:

Communications
Emergency Services
Energy
Finance
Food
Government & Public Service
Health
Public Safety
Transport
Water

Each sector comprises many different companies and organisations, all of which rely heavily on computers and associated electronic technologies in their day-to-day business, making them vulnerable to an electronic attack. Many of these systems are now connected to the Internet which, while improving business efficiency, also presents a direct route for an attack. In the UK the majority of the CNI is run by the private sector and NISCC works closely with a wide range of companies many of which have strong international links or are foreign-owned. CNI issues transcend geographical borders and problems can strike anywhere in the world.

Almost all critical industrial infrastructures and processes are managed remotely from central control rooms, using various forms of process control or "supervisory control and data acquisition" (SCADA) technology. NISCC is helping the CNI to understand and mitigate electronic attack risks to SCADA systems.

The IET has established an excellent working relationship with NISCC and through our Sector Panels and Technical and Professional Networks is helping them to deliver an effective service. NISCC has recently published a number of Good Practice Guides for Process Control and SCADA Security and Dr Alf Roberts former Chief Executive of the IET said “We were delighted when NISCC asked us to review these guides. They received a very favourable response from members and we are delighted to have been able to commend them to Business Partners.

NISCC Director Roger Cumming said: “The heart of our business is information sharing. By involving external partners at an early stage, we start adding value at the very beginning of our production process. We appreciate our relationship with the IET, and look forward to working together in the future.”

Details about NISCC and its many other services can be found on its website.