In an age where electricity is as vital as the air we breathe and water is crucial in the heat of the summer, the continuity of critical infrastructure is non-negotiable.
Critical infrastructure is the backbone of our modern world, from power grids to healthcare and transportation, and it faces a growing threat with a 140% surge in cyberattacks that led to physical consequences as well as increasing physical security threats. Plus, with growing extreme weather events the resilience of critical infrastructure all over the world is more crucial than ever.
In this blog we explore the significance of critical infrastructure security in today's world and how to safeguard these sites from cyberattacks and physical threats with a layered approach to critical infrastructure protection (CIP).
What is critical infrastructure?
Critical infrastructure includes all the assets, systems, facilities, and networks that are essential to the proper functioning of a society’s economy, national public health or safety, security.
Whether it is supplying the power we use in our homes or offices, treating the water we drink, delivering fuel for our vehicles, or housing the national government representatives that run our countries; critical infrastructure, also referred to as critical national infrastructure, are the essential services that underpin our society and keep our nation running.
How many critical infrastructure sectors are there?
In the UK, there are 13 national infrastructure sectors:
- Chemicals
- Civil Nuclear
- Communications
- Defence
- Emergency Services
- Energy
- Finance
- Food
- Government
- Health
- Space
- Transport
- Water
Several sectors also have defined sub-sectors for example, emergency services can be split into Fire Emergency, Coast Guard, Police, and Ambulance.
Why is critical infrastructure important?
Securing critical infrastructure is vital to ensuring continuous access to services like drinking water, electricity, and food. Any disruption or damage to the operation of these services can have devastating and far-reaching impacts across many aspects of our daily lives, posing a serious threat to global economies and livelihoods.
Best practices for implementing critical infrastructure security measures
Implementing critical infrastructure security requires a comprehensive and proactive approach that addresses various security aspects. These sites can benefit from a layered approach to CIP.
Layered security allows a site to put multiple security levels in place and increase the complexity the closer you get to higher risk assets. By doing this, it reduces the possibility of a security threat being realised through delaying intruders and providing security personnel more time to detect unauthorised entry.
No single security solution will stop every attack, every time, so when protecting high-risk sites, a layered approach incorporating critical infrastructure solutions is best practice.
Critical infrastructure perimeter protection
Perimeter security is the first line of defence for any organisation. It can provide detection and deterrence, alerting the business and emergency services to potential security threats while delaying and preventing any loss or damage due to theft, vandalism, or other criminal acts. A robust perimeter security system is essential to protect your site from criminal threats, especially in critical and high security sectors.
For example, The Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC), based in Muscat, Oman, faced challenges in securing its 90 remote grid stations from unauthorised intrusions. To address these issues, OETC implemented Gallagher's perimeter security solutions, including energised pulse fencing and the Z20 Disturbance Sensor for continuous gate monitoring. This combined with CCTV, automated lighting, and remote monitoring integrations has successfully deterred unauthorised entries and enhanced safety. As a result, OETC has improved asset protection, reduced security costs, and increased operational efficiency.
Critical infrastructure access control
Robust access control is an essential component of a comprehensive physical security strategy for critical infrastructure protection. These measures are specifically designed to prevent or mitigate the threat to people, information, and assets. A critical infrastructure access control system should protect against unauthorised access, maintain integrity and availability, and provide evidence of access.
Access control solutions provide a foundation for creating layered security protection and achieve much more than just allowing access via electronic credentials. This technology can provide a complete record of who entered a facility, which areas they accessed, and the duration of their stay, thereby enhancing critical infrastructure security.
One example of this is utilising an access control system to manage user privileges and assigning different access permission for employees. Entry control points can be easily established to only allow authorised individuals initial access to a facility or within specific areas. The rule of least privilege ensures that users are given the minimum levels of access or permissions needed to perform their job and can be a fundamental layer in protecting high-value assets or data, while reinforcing critical infrastructure protection.
High security zones within an access solution often have a dual authority rule where two authorised people must be authenticated at the same time before access is granted. A no alone zone can be used for areas where there must be two people present and if they don’t leave within the allocated grace period an alarm will be generated. In more capable critical infrastructure access control systems, that rule can be modified to require at least one person of a supervisor role to be present.
The importance of cybersecurity in critical infrastructure security
A crucial layer in every physical access control strategy, is cybersecurity. Unfortunately, cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly prevalent and as such are a very real threat to every organisation, although especially consequential for critical sites. When it comes to the protection of your critical infrastructure site, cybersecurity is one of the most important things you can invest in.
Gallagher’s critical infrastructure security solutions are highly specialised and designed to meet the needs of critical sites with some of today's highest security requirements. A significant component of this design is having cybersecurity protection built-in at every stage. End-to-end encryption and authentication, external and internal vulnerability testing, system hardening and configuration advice, fully trained and certified installers all help to ensure your critical infrastructure security system is as cyber secure as possible.
In the UK, our high security solution is compliant to the UK CPNI CAPSS and AACS 2022 standard providing sites, including those home to critical national infrastructure (CNI) with the assurance that Gallagher software and hardware meets the most stringent physical and cybersecurity requirements.
Ensuring the security of critical infrastructure is paramount for the stability of modern society and the importance of a layered security approach in protecting these sites cannot be overstated. Protecting essential systems, such as power grids, water supplies, and communication systems, is vital to maintain the continuity of services that billions rely on daily.