[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 21 (Monday, February 2, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5512-5514]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-01844]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology

[Docket No.: 141231999-4999-01]


National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) Situational 
Awareness Use Case for the Energy Sector

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 
invites organizations to provide products and technical expertise to 
support and demonstrate security platforms for situational awareness 
for the energy sector. This notice is the initial step for the National 
Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) in collaborating with 
technology companies to address cybersecurity challenges identified 
under the Energy sector program. Participation in the use case is open 
to all interested organizations.

DATES: Interested parties must contact NIST to request a letter of 
interest. Letters of interest will be accepted on a rolling basis. 
Collaborative activities will commence as soon as enough

[[Page 5513]]

completed and signed letters of interest have been returned to address 
all the necessary components and capabilities, but no earlier than 
March 4, 2015. When the use case has been completed, NIST will post a 
notice on the NCCoE energy sector program Web site at http://nccoe.nist.gov/energy announcing the completion of the use case and 
informing the public that it will no longer accept letters of interest 
for this use case.

ADDRESSES: The NCCoE is located at 9600 Gudelsky Drive, Rockville, MD 
20850. Letters of interest must be submitted to [email protected] 
or via hardcopy to National Institute of Standards and Technology, 
NCCoE; 9600 Gudelsky Drive; Rockville, MD 20850. Organizations whose 
letters of interest are accepted in accordance with the Process set 
forth in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice will be 
asked to sign a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) 
with NIST. A CRADA template can be found at: http://nccoe.nist.gov/node/138.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim McCarthy via email at 
[email protected]; or telephone 240-314-6816; National Institute of 
Standards and Technology, NCCoE; 9600 Gudelsky Drive; Rockville, MD 
20850. Additional details about the Energy Sector program are available 
at http://nccoe.nist.gov/energy.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background: The NCCoE, part of NIST, is a 
public-private collaboration for accelerating the widespread adoption 
of integrated cybersecurity tools and technologies. The NCCoE brings 
together experts from industry, government, and academia under one roof 
to develop practical, interoperable cybersecurity approaches that 
address the real-world needs of complex Information Technology (IT) 
systems. By accelerating dissemination and use of these integrated 
tools and technologies for protecting IT assets, the NCCoE will enhance 
trust in U.S. IT communications, data, and storage systems; reduce risk 
for companies and individuals using IT systems; and encourage 
development of innovative, job-creating cybersecurity products and 
services.
    Process: NIST is soliciting responses from all sources of relevant 
security capabilities (see below) to enter into a Cooperative Research 
and Development Agreement (CRADA) to provide products and technical 
expertise to support and demonstrate security platforms for the 
Situational Awareness use case for the Energy Sector. The full use case 
can be viewed at: http://nccoe.nist.gov/sites/default/files/nccoe/NCCoE_ES_Situational_Awareness.pdf Interested parties should contact 
NIST using the information provided in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT section of this notice. NIST will then provide each interested 
party with a letter of interest, which the party must complete, certify 
that it is accurate, and submit to NIST. NIST will contact interested 
parties if there are questions regarding the responsiveness of the 
letters of interest to the use case objective or requirements 
identified below. NIST will select participants who have submitted 
complete letters of interest on a first come, first served basis within 
each category of product components or capabilities listed below up to 
the number of participants in each category necessary to carry out this 
use case. However, there may be continuing opportunity to participate 
even after initial activity commences. Selected participants will be 
required to enter into a consortium CRADA with NIST. NIST published a 
notice in the Federal Register on October 19, 2012 (77 FR 64314) 
inviting U.S. companies to enter into National Cybersecurity Excellence 
Partnerships; (NCEPs) in furtherance of the NCCoE. For this 
demonstration project, NCEP partners will not be given priority for 
participation.
    Use Case Objective: To improve the security of operational 
technology, energy companies need mechanisms to capture, transmit, 
analyze and store real-time or near-real-time data from industrial 
control systems (ICS) and related networking equipment. With such 
mechanisms in place, energy sector providers, owners and operators can 
more readily detect anomalous conditions, take appropriate actions to 
remediate them, investigate the chain of events that led to the 
anomalies and share findings with other energy companies. Obtaining 
real-time and near-real-time data from networks also has the benefit of 
helping to demonstrate compliance with information security standards.
    Requirements: Each responding organization's letter of interest 
should identify which security platform components or capabilities it 
is offering. Components are listed in section five (for reference, 
please see link in PROCESS section above) of the Situational Awareness 
for the Energy Sector use case and include, but are not limited to:
    1. Security incident and event management (SIEM) or log analysis 
software
    2. ICS equipment, such as remote terminal units (RTUs), 
programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and relays, along with 
associated software and communications equipment (e.g., radios, 
encryptors)
    3. ``Bump-in-the-wire'' devices for augmenting operational 
technology (OT) with encrypted communication and logging capabilities
    4. Software for collecting, analyzing, visualizing and storing 
operational control data (e.g., historians, outage management systems, 
distribution management systems, human-machine interfaces)
    5. Products that ensure the integrity and accuracy of data 
collected from remote facilities
    Each responding organization's letter of interest should identify 
how their products address one or more of the following desired 
solution characteristics in section two (for reference, please see link 
in PROCESS section above) of the Situational Awareness for the Energy 
Sector use case:
    1. Data visualization and analysis capabilities that help 
dispatchers and security analysts view control system behavior, network 
security events, and physical security events as a cohesive whole
    2. Analysis and correlation capabilities that help dispatchers and 
security analysts understand and identify security events and predict 
how those events might affect control system operation
    3. Scalability sufficient to meet the needs of a large metropolitan 
utility
    4. Mechanisms that ensure the accuracy and integrity of data 
collected from remote facilities
    5. Ability to collect logs, traffic, and operational data from a 
variety of sources, including servers, ICS equipment, networking 
equipment, security appliances, issue tracking systems, and mobile 
devices
    6. Ability to allow dispatchers and security analysts to easily 
automate common, repetitive investigative tasks
    7. Built-in information sharing capabilities that allow dispatchers 
and security analysts to easily share and acquire new threat 
indicators, correlation rules, mitigations, and investigative 
techniques
    8. Customizable interfaces that allow users to tailor the system to 
meet specific business needs
    9. Automated report generation to aid utilities in demonstrating 
compliance with relevant standards
    10. Intuitive user interfaces that are appropriate for utility 
dispatchers with limited network security expertise or security 
analysts with limited expertise in electric power

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    Responding organizations need to understand and, in their letters 
of interest, commit to provide:
    1. Access for all participants' project teams to component 
interfaces and the organization's experts necessary to make functional 
connections among security platform components
    2. Support for development and demonstration of the Situational 
Awareness use case for the Energy Sector in NCCoE facilities which will 
be conducted in a manner consistent with Federal requirements (e.g., 
FIPS 200, FIPS 201, SP 800-53, and SP 800-63)
Additional details about the Situational Awareness for the Energy 
sector use case are available at: http://nccoe.nist.gov/sites/default/files/nccoe/NCCoE_ES_Situational_Awareness.pdf. NIST cannot guarantee 
that all of the products proposed by respondents will be used in the 
demonstration. Each prospective participant will be expected to work 
collaboratively with NIST staff and other project participants under 
the terms of the consortium agreement in the development of the 
Situational Awareness for the Energy sector capability. Prospective 
participants' contribution to the collaborative effort will include 
assistance in establishing the necessary interface functionality, 
connection and set-up capabilities and procedures, demonstration 
harnesses, environmental and safety conditions for use, integrated 
platform user instructions, and demonstration plans and scripts 
necessary to demonstrate the desired capabilities. Each prospective 
participant will train NIST personnel as necessary, to operate its 
product in capability demonstrations to the energy community. Following 
successful demonstrations, NIST will publish a description of the 
security platform and its performance characteristics sufficient to 
permit other organizations to develop and deploy security platforms 
that meet the security objectives of the Situational Awareness for the 
Energy sector use case. These descriptions will be public information.
    Under the terms of the consortium agreement, NIST will support 
development of interfaces among participants' products by providing IT 
infrastructure, laboratory facilities, office facilities, collaboration 
facilities, and staff support to component composition, security 
platform documentation, and demonstration activities. The dates of the 
demonstration of the Situational Awareness for the Energy sector 
capability will be announced on the NCCoE Web site at least two weeks 
in advance at http://nccoe.nist.gov/. The expected outcome of the 
demonstration is to improve situational awareness across an entire 
energy sector enterprise. Participating organizations will gain from 
the knowledge that their products are interoperable with other 
participants' offerings.
    For additional information on the NCCoE governance, business 
processes, and NCCoE operational structure, visit the NCCoE Web site 
http://nccoe.nist.gov/.

Kevin A. Kimball,
NIST Chief of Staff.
[FR Doc. 2015-01844 Filed 1-30-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-13-P