Critical Infrastructure Security

Most countries are heavily dependent on fragile supply chains for their own national security needs. Global supply chains are now so intertwined that a single hiccup in production can ripple across the planet. When these ripples are intentionally inserted, they can expose a nation’s critical infrastructures to unimaginable risks and consequences.

For example, the world is moving toward using greener energy. To archive this goal a nation such as the United States has to retrofit existing technology with newer components manufactured in China, software written in India, and shipped via seagoing cargo vessels from Denmark. There are many avenues of cyber attack along this supply chain that can expose the recipient to potential security risks.

This is just one example of thousands of such risks that exist not only in America, but in India and throughout the world. As security professionals we need to realize that the most important infrastructure vulnerabilities are most often not the ones we can see, but are usually the ones that we cannot see. Those are the ones we shall discuss.