If the US ever goes to war with a major adversary, one of the first waves of cyberattacks will likely target infrastructure that rarely comes up in discussions about digital threats: railroads. Americans understand that power, water and healthcare systems face constant and sometimes sophisticated hacks from foreign governments and criminal gangs. But the US pays far less attention to vulnerabilities in its rail system, even though the consequences of stalled or crashed trains could be disastro
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Moving goods via rail remains one of the most popular modes of transportation. In a typical year, US freight railroads move around 1.6 billion tons across nearly 140,000 miles of track. US citizens traveled more than 12.5 billion kilometers by rail in 2021, through the automobile remains the king in the US. Thousands of railways, from national and regional networks to intra-city light rails, have been built to connect the country and its industries, turning rail into a critical component of t
The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have announced a new cyber-security directive regulating designated passenger and freight railroad carriers. The announcement demonstrates the Biden Administration’s commitment to strengthen the cyber-security of US critical infrastructure. Building on the TSA’s work to strengthen defenses in other transportation modes, this security directive will further enhance cyber-security preparedness and resilience for the nation’s railroad operations
