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Question: 13. TBD How could a CBDC be designed to foster operational and cyber resiliency? What operational or cyber risks might be unavoidable?
Question
Answer
In order to answer this compound question, each part of the question is answered separately:
1. How could a CBDC be designed to foster operational and cyber resiliency?
Although Cyber Resiliency is affected by the Operational Resiliency of the system as a whole, the two topics need to be treated separately. Therefore, the question has been subdivided into two questions:
a) Operational Resiliency
b) Cyber Resiliency
The first step in designing for Cyber Resiliency is to begin with a Systems Engineering approach and to survey CBDC Stakeholders to refine the definitions and expectations of Cyber Resiliency. See CBDC Stakeholders for a more detailed discussion.
An important first step needs to be to follow the NIST Special Publication SP 800-16 volume 2 guidelines for developing cyber-resilient systems.1). Skipping this step and going right to design and implementation often ends with the problem space (i.e., CBDC) being defined by the product(s) it chooses to use rather than by the stakeholders requirements. A product based solution can work, but it often misses many key requirements important to the stakeholders. For example, the design must be Quantum Computing “safe” or resistent.
SP 800-16 provides a framework for conducting cyber resiliency engineering. It starts with defining and setting the goals, objectives, techniques, implementation approaches, design principles. Table 1 summarizes the definition and purpose of each construct, and how each construct is applied at the system level. Note: The framework is applicable to levels beyond the system level (e.g., mission or business function level, organizational level, or sector level).
| Construct | Definition, Purpose, and Application at the System Level |
|---|---|
| Goal | A high-level statement supporting (or focusing on) one aspect (i.e., anticipate, withstand, recover, adapt) in the definition of cyber resiliency.
|
| Objective | A high-level statement (designed to be restated in system-specific and stakeholder-specific terms) of what a system must achieve in its operational environment and throughout its life cycle to meet stakeholder needs for mission assurance and resilient security. The objectives are more specific than goals and more relatable to threats.
|
| Sub-Objective | A statement, subsidiary to a cyber resiliency objective, that emphasizes different aspects of that objective or identifies methods to achieve that objective.
|
|
Activity | A statement of a capability or action that supports the achievement of a sub-objective and, hence, an objective.
|
| Strategic Design Principle | A high-level statement that reflects an aspect of the risk management strategy that informs systems security engineering practices for an organization, mission, or system.
|
Once the Systems Engineering is completed, a design can be made to foster cyber resiliency.
2. What operational or cyber risks might be unavoidable?
References
| Source | Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation |
|---|---|
| Published Date: | January 2022 |
| Requestor | Board of Governors, The Federal Reserve System |
| Area | Research and Analysis |
