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 United States there are 16 critical infrastructure sectors including:
- Chemical Sector
- Commercial Facilities Sector
- Communications Sector
- Critical Manufacturing Sector
- Dams Sector
- Defense Industrial Base Sector
- Emergency Services Sector
- Energy Sector
- Financial Services Sector
- Food and Agriculture Sector
- Government Facilities Sector
- Healthcare and Public Health Sector
- Information Technology Sector
- Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste Sector
- Transportation Systems Sector
- Water and Wastewater Systems
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 realized through delaying intruders and providing security personnel more time to detect unauthorized 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 defense for any organization. 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 unauthorized intrusions. To address these issues, OETC implemented Gallagher's perimeter security solutions, including energized pulse fencing and the Z20 Disturbance Sensor for continuous gate monitoring. This combined with CCTV, automated lighting, and remote monitoring integrations has successfully deterred unauthorized 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 unauthorized 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 utilizing 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 authorized 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 authorized 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 organization, 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 specialized 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.
The Gallagher Personal Identity Verification (PIV) solution is purpose built and approved for use across federal government sites in the United States. As a unique end-to-end solution, it has suitability to any environment that requires high assurance authentication to computer network resources. Compliant with the latest Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 201-3, the products and software that make up the Gallagher PIV solution are designed from inception to be as cyber secure as possible through product development that encompasses authentication, encryption, tamper defense, and redundancies.
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.