Significance of Critical Infrastructure - Essay Example

Significance of Critical Infrastructure Introduction Critical infrastructure comprises of assets as well as systems and networks that are critical towards the functioning of a country or an economy and include transportation and cyber among others. In most instances, cyber security is the key infrastructure that countries intend to secure most because it is crucial to the functioning of the other critical infrastructures. For instance, cyber security is responsible for electric power, which is in turn responsible for manufacturing and other aspects that follow. Critical infrastructure is significant in that a country can barely function without it since the economy depends on it. Hence, securing critical infrastructure is no longer a choice but a must for a country to thrive. Presently, there are many cyber intrusion attempts and those that have been successful have ended with loss of information, clients, and even death at times (Cornish & Royal Institute of International Affairs, 2011). Cyber threats to critical infrastructure continue to increase prompting governments to develop policies that would enhance security. Most governments have acknowledged the importance of cyber security and have hence devised ways to stay a head of the cyber criminals mostly through raising awareness and working in collaboration with the private sector towards a more secure world. Analysis and discussion From a historical perspective, critical infrastructure has not always been as important as it is in today’s world. In the past, before technological advancement became as pronounced as it is today, people had not embraced technology and thus it was not a key factor in economic performance. However, since the industrial revolution, critical infrastructure began acquiring importance from the economic perspective. Critical infrastructure has evolved a lot since the 1700s. This is because the 1700s did not have road networks and the 20th century marked the first century of critical infrastructure because the development of road networks began at this period. The post Cold War world brought new vulnerabilities and threats. Terrorism developed later on and the need to secure critical infrastructure heightened because of the factors at stake if an attack was to take place. Cyber security has also evolved since the development of the Internet during the 1980s (Wilshusen, 2011). First, there were numerous vulnerabilities that could be affected by computer viruses and then came other sophisticated hacking techniques. With the recent development of cloud computing, people’s data and information is at a greater risk and the need to secure it is at its highest. This is because as technology evolves making communication easier, new vulnerabilities are identified and exploited by application of sophisticated techniques. Therefore, the need to secure information has never been higher. Governmental and non-governmental organizations have come up with ways of securing information in the cyber sector so as to limit unauthorized access to information. These strategies are geared towards limiting because in an advancing world, vulnerabilities are bound to continue developing as criminals attempt to break into computer systems on a daily basis. One of the most common ways of securing the information is through virtualization. This is one of the most effective ways of discouraging an attacker and prompting them to look elsewhere for systems to attack. This is because virtualization makes a computer system to appear as virtual but not a real system. In addition, it functions as a way of isolating the data from the main network to reduce the effect of an attack event. This helps in case of an attack because the data is not tampered with. To ensure the success if this strategy, the organizations have also developed certain security tools that can help the organization in detecting intrusions as well as prevent them. These range from antivirus software to other sophisticated intrusion detection and deterrence tools. These have become very important because they not only help governments in securing information in cyber space but also help in providing data concerning the most recent ways that criminals are using in attempting intrusions (Lewis, 2006). This is then used to help in devising ways to prevent such attacks. The only way that this succeeds is through collaboration between the private and the public sectors. Through collaboration, information is shared. Sharing of information and collaborating efforts is also another way of securing critical infrastructure. In sharing information, both private and public sectors are able to acquire information regarding the most recent attack methods as well as ways of protecting their systems. If collaboration is not done, both sectors risk losing data and clients if information is leaked. For this to work, the public sector must raise awareness to make sure that the private sector is aware of the existence of specific attack methods and be willing to share information concerning intrusion attempts that they record. This secures the infrastructure ran by both sectors. In addition, it ensures that a country is several steps ahead of the criminals with respect to intrusion prevention. When raising awareness, the government can also ensure that it communicates ways of protecting systems owned by the private sector. Some of the most common ways that attackers use to illegally access systems are remote controlled after acquiring passwords to systems. Governments can ensure that the private sector IT administrators have adequate information concerning how to set up passwords that are difficult to crack or even guess. Employees are warned against usage of easy to guess passwords and usernames such as dates of birth or even their spouse’s names. Individuals should also change their passwords regularly to prevent an attack. This implies that education is also a crucial way of securing information stored in cyber space (Das et al., 2012). Additionally, it would also be important to ensure that individuals are protected even if an attack that destroys data takes place. While this may be a last resort method for protection against extensive damage, it helps organizations to continue functioning even in the wake of an attack that destroys data or computer systems. This is done through establishment of backup systems that are not connected to the main network. These backups are used to store the most crucial information especially one that the organization uses to run. In the event of an attack, the destroyed data can be restored and ensure smooth running of the organization as ways of preventing similar attacks in the future are devised and implemented. Recommendation and conclusion As a recommendation, the main factor that can help in deterrence of cyber intrusions is education. This is because when people are aware of the cause of the threats they can work towards resolving the existing loopholes. For this to work and realize the most appropriate results, the collaboration and sharing of information between the public and the private sectors is paramount. In fact, sharing of the information would serve as education because new threats emerge every day and learning them is a step towards resolution. Moreover, government institutions should take raising awareness seriously because knowledge is the key in the area of securing critical infrastructure. In conclusion, critical infrastructure has evolved since the 1700s to a more sophisticated world today. As efficiency improves, new threats emerge and organizations as well as governmental institutions are required to step up in order to fight today’s treats. Cyber threats are the most serious in critical infrastructure because they are connected to other services that are critical to the performance of an economy. In the wake of increased threats to information in cyber sector, organizations have adopted sophisticated ways of protecting the precious information stored in servers. Some of the most common ways include use of tools that detect and alert organizations of intrusion attempts and making backups that would be used to restore working of an organization in case of an attack. References Cornish, P., & Royal Institute of International Affairs. (2011). Cyber security and critical national infrastructure. London, England: Chatham House. Das, S. K., Kant, K., & Zhang, N. (2012). Handbook on securing cyber-physical critical infrastructure. Waltham, MA: Morgan Kaufmann. Lewis, T. G. (2006). Critical infrastructure protection in homeland security: Defending a networked nation. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley & Sons. Wilshusen, G. C. (2011). Cybersecurity: Continued Attention Needed to Protect Our Nation’s Critical Infrastructure and Federal Information Systems: Congressional Testimony. Darby: DIANE Publishing. Read More