White House unveils cyber plan for chemical sector

The White House announced on Wednesday its plan to expand its public-private cybersecurity partnership to include the chemical sector. 

The Chemical Action Plan will push for higher cybersecurity standards across the sector, including improving visibility and threat detection for industrial control systems.

The plan will also guide the sector in assessing current cybersecurity standards over the next 100 days.

Under the plan, industry leaders will focus on securing high-risk chemical facilities from cyberattacks. The proposal also encourages information sharing between the government and the private sector as well as collaboration with sector owners and operators.

The new strategy will also support the continuation of chemical productions that are critical to the national and economic security of the country.  

The announcement is the latest action from the Biden administration to secure critical sectors from cyber threats by strengthening cybersecurity standards. 

On Tuesday, the Office of the National Cyber Director held a meeting at the White House with government officials and private sector leaders to discuss cybersecurity standards in the electric vehicle sector.

Electric vehicle industry executives at the meeting talked about cybersecurity gaps they’ve found within their organizations and provided recommendations on how to improve cyber standards across the industry. 

Government officials also noted during the meeting that building an electric vehicle ecosystem that is secure and resilient is crucial to achieving some of the administration’s climate policy objectives, which include increasing the production of electric vehicles to 50 percent by 2030.