Identify functions that must not fail and associated events that would trigger failure of those critical functions. Proceed with events that possess the greatest potential impact.

Identify, collect, and organize all information regarding critical systems involved in the Phase 1 events.

Develop scenarios to determine paths, targets, access, and information an adversary would need to achieve the events.

Develop mitigations and protections to prevent, limit, respond to and recover from an adversary carrying out the scenarios developed.

This is sample case study of the CCE methodology applied to a fictional industrial infrastructure.

CCE is a structured method that outlines an attacker’s approach to cyber-enabled sabotage and delivers specific engineering solutions—not just cyber controls—to design-out cyber risk from critical operations.

An overview Fact Sheet on the CCE Program:

This is compiled document of all four phases of the CCE Methodology Process listed above.

INL Authors: Andrew Bochman and Sarah Freeman

Countering Cyber Sabotage: Introducing Consequence-Driven, Cyber-Informed Engineering (CCE) introduces a new methodology to help critical infrastructure owners, operators and their security practitioners make demonstrable improvements in securing their most important functions and processes.

Current best practice approaches to cyber defense struggle to stop targeted attackers from creating potentially catastrophic results. The most pressing threat is cyber-enabled sabotage, and CCE begins with the assumption that well-resourced, adaptive adversaries are already in and have been for some time, undetected and perhaps undetectable.

Mission Support Center Analysis Report, INL

This paper seeks to illustrate the current cyber-physical landscape of the U.S. electric sector in the context of its vulnerabilities to cyber attacks, the likelihood of cyber attacks, and the impacts cyber events and threat actors can achieve on the power grid. In addition, this paper highlights utility perspectives, perceived challenges, and requests for assistance in addressing cyber threats to the electric sector.

Mission Support Center Concept Report, INL

CCE participants are encouraged to work collaboratively with each other and with key U.S. Government (USG) contributors to establish a coalition, maximizing the positive effect of lessons-learned and further contributing to the protection of critical infrastructure and other national assets.

International Conference on Research Reactors: Safe Management and Effective Utilization, 2015

This paper examines the need for cyber-informed engineering practices that encompass the entire engineering life cycle. Cyber-informed engineering, as referenced in this paper, is the inclusion of cybersecurity into the engineering process. This paper addresses several attributes of this process and the long-term goal of developing additional cyber-safety basis analysis and trust principles. With a culture of free information-sharing exchanges, and potentially a lack of security expertise, new risk analysis and design methodologies need to be developed to address this rapidly evolving (cyber) threatscape.

RSA Conference 2019
Presenters: Virginia Wright and Andrew Bochman

It is dawning on critical infrastructure operators that even the best cyber-hygiene—the sum total of all we now do in cybersecurity—cannot be counted on to keep well-resourced attackers from touching their most critical processes and the systems that support them. This talk will introduce a new approach that draws from engineering first principals to take the highest value targets off the table.

S4 January 2019
Dale talks with Andy Bochman about the Consequence-Driven, Cyber-Informed Engineering (CCE) and John Cusimano about CyberPHA’s and  lowering the maximum impact of a successful attack.

Accelerate Training provides participants with a fundamental knowledge of the CCE methodology focused on securing the nation’s critical infrastructure systems. Participants should be critical infrastructure owners, operators, vendors, and manufacturers.

To schedule training, please contact:
cce@inl.gov

INL’s Workforce Development Training is designed to provide in-depth, team based training for select individuals who will help guide Tier 1 partners in the execution of a CCE engagement. Training participants are chosen based on skill set, trained to become CCE methodology and process experts, and then further hone their CCE skills through on-the-job engagement training.

Partner Training is designed to provide an in-depth, team-based training for select individuals who will participate in the execution of a Tier 1 engagement. It includes 16 hours of training on the CCE methodology, plus a detailed student guide and templates participants can reference throughout the engagement.