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Organisational culture is an important social factor of nuclear cyber security. This includes vetting and human resource procedures, specifically preventative measures against insider threats, and setting up risk communication strategies.
While most companies will have policies in place against the use of USB keys or external software, one of the biggest threats to cyber security is complacency. It can be difficult to distinguish between professional and private internet use, and how to securely separate between networks.
A Chatham House study (Baylon 2015) found that globally there are low levels of cyber incident disclosure, meaning that people are often unaware of the risks and develop a false sense of security. In addition, the study found that engineering and information technology personnel frequently struggle to communicate clearly, and that more appreciation, training and skills development are necessary.
Cyber security training will raise personnel’s understanding of the challenges a cyber incident poses for governance (for example smaller command chains, and the importance of record keeping), communication between the different parts of incident response (for example personnel manning perimeter defence and intrusion detection systems) as well as the need to fully understand what is on their network.
Further Reading:
Conca, J., ‘How well is the Nuclear Industry Protected from Cyber Threats’, Forbes, 2019
