How the Victorians can help keep the rail network safe from cybercriminals

The Victorians who built much of our railways set up an extraordinary signalling system to ensure trains could travel safely around the network. It was so good that, two centuries later, there are still some rural lines where lineside semaphore signals, rather than modern coloured lights, and signal boxes with large metal levers are still in use.

However, technology has advanced considerably since the 1800s and it is clearly time for the railways to move into the digital age, with all its benefits. However, we also must be alive to new threats.

The danger posed by cyberattacks on the railways was given a fictional treatment in the BBC thriller Nightsleeper. And while the plot of that drama was far-fetched, the risks of disruption to services and attempts at blackmail by criminal gangs are very real.

The BBC drama Nightsleeper highlighted the dangers of cybercriminals, albeit in a far-fetched way (Picture: Anne Binckebanck) | BBC/Euston Films

Nothing is impenetrable

Now a Network Rail official has warned that the body is “wholly... unequipped to deal with” the transition from mechanical signals “into the networking world”, adding: "There's some very real possibilities with cybersecurity and we are not ready for that.” Another official stressed that Network Rail had a “a very – I'll touch wood as I say it – a relatively secure cybersecurity system”. But he also added: “Never say it's impenetrable, because nothing is.”

Given such a situation, it would seem wise to retain manual controls until we can be confident that our digital systems are truly secure. It is fanciful to suggest that a train could be captured and remote-controlled in the way depicted in Nightsleeper.

‘Very serious’ attacks

However, Network Rail has said that an attack on Transport for London earlier this year, from which it is still recovering, “absolutely devastated” its systems, with the resulting problems costing more than £30 million. UK rail minister Lord Hendy told MPs this month that the cyber attack on TfL “is very serious and has been going on for a very long time”.

We cannot allow vital infrastructure to become a cash cow for cybercriminals. So, even as we step into the future, we should not be in so much of a hurry that we fail to keep one foot in the past, just in case we need a fall-back position.