In an exclusive tête-à-tête with CXO News & APAC News Network, Alok Shankar Pandey, AGM (IT) & CISO, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) highlights the pitfalls of cybersecurity in the railways ecosystem and measures to mitigate the challenges.
What is the overall business model of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation, and how does technology drive this business?
Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Railways. It is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) aiming to transform freight operations in India. The role and adoption of technological advancements in rail operations for achieving the desired transformation cannot be emphasized enough.
What are the key digital initiatives at Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation that you would like to highlight, and what are the security challenges posed by them?
The underlying technology driving Freight Operations in specific and Rail operations in general over the last decade, both in the domains of Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT) has witnessed significant evolution globally. Advancement in technology is being leveraged extensively in the fields of route construction, train operations and management. Like in any other field, the technology used for Freight operations has its associated physical and technological security challenges.
How do you ensure cybersecurity awareness among all the employees? How is the security function synergized with the other business functions?
Cyber Security Awareness is one of the pillars for ensuring Cyber Security at DFCCIL. As of now, periodic awareness drives using lecture cum demonstrations to emphasize the pitfalls of Cyber Security and the need for good Cyber Hygiene are being used. Given the fact that DFCCIL is a growing organization with a high churn rate of human capital, spreading Cyber Security Awareness is always a work in progress.
What are the challenges currently on the OT level security for the railway ecosystem and how are you looking to mitigate these challenges?
OT of the Railways is probably one of the most complex ecosystems. It comprises purpose-built networks for SCADA, Signaling and Telecom using proprietary protocols of multiple OEMs in each field. While interoperability of these elements remains the primary operational challenge, the security-related challenges
Given the vast spread of the networks and each of the above networks spread across the entire Rail Network, asset visibility and physical security of the asset is the first challenge. Since most of the hardware is purpose-built, they have just enough computing and storage to meet their functional requirements. Vulnerability discovery and its subsequent patching where OEM support is essential is the next challenge.
As the custodian of critical public infrastructure especially in railways, how do you assess your security posture and enhance your cyber resilience?
Railways being a CII, it may not be appropriate to share its security posture assessment. It should suffice to say that the environment is sensitized to the challenges involved and necessary steps are in place, or being put in place.
How would PSUs like Dedicated Freight Corridor leverage new-age technologies like robotics and GenAI to boost the operations of the SoC?
Gen AI has tremendous scope in implementing SoC Automation. It can be used to address/automate actions related to common and repetitive events. The use of Robotics for SoC operations needs to be explored as to what issues it can address.
Rajneesh De, Consulting Editor, APAC News Network
