The Transportation Security Administration plans to introduce new regulations that will compel the most important U.S. railroad and airport operators to improve their cybersecurity procedures, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will announce in a speech on Wednesday.
“Whether by air, land, or sea, our transportation systems are of utmost strategic importance to our national and economic security,” Mayorkas plans to say, based on prepared remarks reviewed by Reuters. “The last year and a half has powerfully demonstrated what’s at stake.” Ransomware, a type of malware variant that encrypts a victimized system until the owner pays a ransom in the form of cryptocurrency to the hacker, has become increasingly common in recent years.