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Cybersecurity Resilience Assessment Tool to Enhance Public Confidence in Transit
In 2021, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) awarded the Rock Island County Metropolitan Mass Transit District (MetroLINK) a grant to develop a cybersecurity assessment tool to assess its cyber posture as part of FTA’s Public Transportation COVID-19 Research Demonstration Grant Program. The Cybersecurity Assessment Tool for Transit (CATT) and supporting documents were developed to assist MetroLINK and other small and mid-sized transit agencies in assessing their cyber preparedness and resilience. CATT is designed specifically for the cybersecurity needs of small to mid-sized public transit agencies. The goal of the tool is to onboard public transit organizations to develop and strengthen their cybersecurity program to identify risks and prioritize activities to mitigate them. The COVID-19 pandemic forced agencies to change how they operated, bringing in new technologies to manage critical operations and to facilitate remote work, many of which exponentially increased the number of threat vectors. In parallel, cyberattacks and network intrusions continue to proliferate. Recent incidents demonstrate that even small and mid-sized transit agencies are vulnerable to system disruptions due to cyberattacks. Prior to this project, no cybersecurity assessment tools had been developed specifically for the unique context and conditions faced by transit agencies.
Read the full study here.