What is Critical Infrastructure? Critical Infrastructure is an asset or system which is essential for producing vital economic and social functions i.e. health, food, security, financial services, information services, transport, etc.
Critical infrastructures are vital assets for economic welfare and national securities. Infrastructure such as electricity distribution, water supply, telecommunication and transport all depend on IT (information technology) systems for management and control. The new reality is that almost all critical infrastructures operate in a digital environment and the vulnerability of information technology has not failed to evolve alongside information technology itself.
The current cyber attacker looks for vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure system in order to obtain relevant information, take entire control of an organizationās activities and, worst of all, paralyze or end the activity. Therefore security and protection measures must become top priority in a constantly evolving and interconnected environment. The question remains how to protect the information contained in these infrastructures from cyber attacks bearing it in mind that they are open to attacks which might cause heinous effects.
Cyber attacks on critical infrastructure have reached all corners of the globe. One of the high profile cases is the colonial pipeline shutdown in the New York in the United States of America. This ransom ware attack froze the flow of 2.5 million barrels of oil product in May 2021. Africa is not excluded from these attacks as well. We recorded over 2 million phishing attacks in the first half of 2021 and over 393 cases were attributed to Nigeria.
The rectification of these attacks cost each of these affected regions a lot of money including payment using crypto currency. This brings to mind that the more attacks we face, the more we spend hence a decrease in economic growth.
Some of the areas of cybersecurity technology that are fortifying infrastructures are being developed in the areas of cloud security, authentication, and biometrics.
The best way to protect information in critical infrastructure is by employing what we know as ādata diodes.ā They allow only designated data to pass in one direction such that no malware or any administrative mistake can change the information flow during data transfer. They keep sensitive information safe and running under severe conditions.
Other Ways of Protecting Critical Infrastructure Against Cyber Attack
Invest in both physical and digital security: Hiring the best hands to work in your team is a great move towards critical infrastructure. These guys should be given the full responsibility of ensuring the safety of all the devices in the organization.
Implement cyber hygiene practices: You should adopt common cyber security protections. Install anti-malware software, firewall, encrypt data on your devices along with communication between devices. All these and more will help secure your information.
Foster a community of cyber security: Have the knowledge that human beings actually protect your organization and everyone in your team should be trained on the common attacks which the system can be attacked with and be reminded to always update and secure their devices.
Audit devices, assets and other network assets: Daily inspection and examination of your devices will help check for malwares and other harmful software.
Without the implementation of cyber security, our infrastructure will be faced with so much threats thereby reducing productivity in an economic system hence the reason for cyber security in critical infrastructure.
