The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is requesting information from the public about the broad use of positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services, as well as the cybersecurity risk management approaches used to protect them. This is aimed at strengthening the resilience of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the wide scope of technologies and services that rely on precision timing.
The request is part of NIST’s response to the Feb. 12, 2020, Executive Order 13905,
Strengthening National Resilience Through Responsible Use of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Services.
The order notes that “the widespread adoption of PNT services means disruption or manipulation of these services could adversely affect U.S. national and economic security. To strengthen national resilience, the Federal Government must foster the responsible use of PNT services by critical infrastructure owners and operators.”
“GPS and PNT are critical and essential components of the U.S. economy,” said Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. “It is imperative that our GPS and PNT systems be fully secure and able to withstand cyber incursions. Following President Trump’s executive order, the government will continue to test the nation’s critical GPS and PNT systems,
develop pilot programs to enhance their resilience, and incorporate the best technologies, software and services to safeguard the security and vitality of this crucial infrastructure,” he added.
This request, aimed primarily at technology vendors and users of PNT services, contains questions designed to elicit a wide-ranging picture of how PNT is used across different sectors of the economy. NIST will use the answers to inform the creation of a profile document intended to improve the resilience of PNT technologies and services. This document will join the growing list of profiles made to help apply the NIST Cybersecurity Framework to particular economic sectors, such as manufacturing, the power grid and the maritime industry.
