[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 55 (Thursday, March 23, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14879-14880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-05759]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology

[Docket No.: 170221188-7188-01]
RIN 0693-XC072


National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) Capabilities 
Assessment for Securing Manufacturing Industrial Control Systems for 
the Manufacturing 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 the Capabilities 
Assessment for Securing Manufacturing Industrial Control Systems. 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 Manufacturing 
sector program. Participation in the Capabilities Assessment for 
Securing Manufacturing Industrial Control Systems use case is open to 
all interested organizations.

DATES: Interested parties must contact NIST to request a letter of 
interest template to be completed and submitted to NIST. Letters of 
interest will be accepted on a first come, first served basis. 
Collaborative activities will commence as soon as enough completed and 
signed letters of interest have been returned to address all the 
necessary components and capabilities of the project, but no earlier 
than April 24, 2017. When the use case has been completed, NIST will 
post a notice on the NCCoE Manufacturing sector program Web site at 
https://nccoe.nist.gov/projects/use_cases/manufacturing announcing the 
completion of the use case and informing the public that it will no 
longer accept letters of interest for the Capabilities Assessment for 
Securing Manufacturing Industrial Control Systems use case.

ADDRESSES: The NCCoE is located at 9700 Great Seneca Highway, 
Rockville, MD 20850. Letters of interest must be submitted to 
[email protected], or via hardcopy to National Institute of 
Standards and Technology, NCCoE; 9700 Great Seneca Highway, 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: https://nccoe.nist.gov/library/nccoe-consortium-crada-example.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim McCarthy via email at 
[email protected]; by telephone at 301-975-0228; or by mail to 
National Institute of Standards and Technology, NCCoE, 9700 Great 
Seneca Highway, Rockville, MD 20850. Additional details about the 
Manufacturing sector program can be found here: https://nccoe.nist.gov/projects/use_cases/manufacturing.

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 
Capabilities Assessment for Securing Manufacturing Industrial Control 
Systems for the Manufacturing sector. The full Capabilities Assessment 
for Securing Manufacturing Industrial Control Systems use case can be 
viewed here: https://nccoe.nist.gov/projects/use_cases/capabilities-assessment-securing-manufacturing-industrial-control-systems.
    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 
template, 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 opportunities to participate even 
after initial activity commences. Selected participants will be 
required to enter into a consortium CRADA with NIST (for reference, see 
ADDRESSES section above). 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

[[Page 14880]]

furtherance of the NCCoE. For this demonstration project, NCEP partners 
will not be given priority for participation.
    Capabilities Assessment for Securing Manufacturing Industrial 
Control Systems Objective: This is the first of a four-part series 
designed to provide businesses with the information they need to 
establish an anomaly detection and prevention capability in their own 
environments. This project will be using commercially available 
hardware/software deployed on an established lab infrastructure. The 
goal of this project is to provide businesses with a cybersecurity 
example solution that can be implemented or that can inform improved 
cybersecurity in their manufacturing processes. Implementing behavioral 
anomaly detection tools provides a key security component in sustaining 
business operations, particularly those based on Industrial Control 
Systems (ICS). One of the ways to disrupt operations is to introduce 
anomalous data into a manufacturing process, whether deliberately or 
inadvertently. Although the example solution will focus on 
cybersecurity, our example solution may also produce residual benefit 
to manufacturers for detecting anomalous conditions not related to 
security. A detailed description of the Capabilities Assessment for 
Securing Manufacturing Industrial Control Systems Project is available 
at https://nccoe.nist.gov/projects/use_cases/capabilities-assessment-securing-manufacturing-industrial-control-systems.
    Requirements: Each responding organization's letter of interest 
should identify which security platform component(s) or capability(ies) 
it is offering. Letters of interest should not include company 
proprietary information, and all components and capabilities must be 
commercially available. Components are listed in the High-Level 
Architectures section of the Capabilities Assessment for Securing 
Manufacturing Industrial Control Systems use case (for reference, 
please see the link in the Process section above) and include, but are 
not limited to:
     ICS behavioral anomaly detection tools.
     Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs).
     Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs).
     Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platform.
    Each responding organization's letter of interest should identify 
how their products address one or more of the following desired 
solution characteristics in the High-Level Architectures section of the 
Capabilities Assessment for Securing Manufacturing Industrial Control 
Systems use case (for reference, please see the link in the Process 
section above):
     Detection of anomalous conditions.
     Process and/or device damage prevention.
     SIEM-based alerting/alarming capability.
    In their letters of interest, responding organizations need to 
understand and 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; and
    2. Support for development and demonstration of the Capabilities 
Assessment for Securing Manufacturing Industrial Control Systems for 
the Manufacturing sector use case 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 Capabilities Assessment for Securing 
Manufacturing Industrial Control Systems for the Manufacturing sector 
use case are available at: https://nccoe.nist.gov/projects/use_cases/capabilities-assessment-securing-manufacturing-industrial-control-systems. 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 CRADA 
in the development of the Capabilities Assessment for Securing 
Manufacturing Industrial Control Systems for the Manufacturing 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 
participant will train NIST personnel, as necessary, to operate its 
product in capability demonstrations to the manufacturing 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 Capabilities Assessment for 
Securing Manufacturing Industrial Control Systems for the Manufacturing 
sector use case. These descriptions will be public information.
    Under the terms of the consortium CRADA, 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 Capabilities Assessment for 
Securing Manufacturing Industrial Control Systems for the Manufacturing 
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 security to manufacturing environments that 
employ the use of ICS, and subsequent adoption of behavioral anomaly 
detection tools by industry. Participating organizations will benefit 
from the knowledge that their products are interoperable with other 
participants' offerings.
    For additional information on NCCoE governance, business processes, 
and operational structure, visit the NCCoE Web site http://nccoe.nist.gov/.

Kevin Kimball,
NIST Chief of Staff.
[FR Doc. 2017-05759 Filed 3-22-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-13-P