Energy Sector of Critical Infrastructures - Coursework Example

Energy Sector of Critical Infrastructure – Problems and Challenges

Background

The energy sector in the USA is the major driving force of the economy. The sector is responsible for the general welfare and health of the of the US citizens. According to the Presidential Policy Directive number 21, the energy department has been outlined to be the provider of the ‘enabling function’ of all important infrastructures driving the United States economy. Without the supply of energy to the different sectors the lifeline of the people of the United States will be threatened. The energy sector has been tasked with the responsibility of ensuring the health, safety, security and stability of the people of the United States and the critical resources are safeguarded (Miara, Vörösmarty, Stewart, Wollheim & Rosenzweig, 2013).

In provision of energy to the different sectors of the nation, it is important to note and understand that over 80% of the total energy supply in the country is owned by the private sector. The private sector has been tasked with the responsibility of ensuring sufficient and steady supply of energy to transportation infrastructure, manufacturing industries, residential areas, business premises and other production sectors of the economy (Miara, Vörösmarty, Stewart, Wollheim & Rosenzweig, 2013). The Department of Homeland Security tasked with ensuring the safety and security of the nations important resources and infrastructure have developed a list of 16 critical infrastructures that guarantee the safety, security and health of the people of the US and their resources. The energy sector is responsible for providing the enabling function to ensure the protection and safety of the infrastructure where the welfare of the nation is dependent. The importance of the energy sector in running the affairs of the US cannot be underestimated. In fulfilling its mandate and responsibilities the energy sector has faced challenges and problems in ensuring the 16 critical infrastructures of the state have sufficient and steady supply of energy.

The Energy Sector in the USA

In the United States, the energy sector comprises of all the industries involved in the generation and sale of energy. It involves the petroleum extraction and refinery industries, petroleum distribution companies, the gas companies, coal, nuclear power and electricity generation companies and the renewable energy industry (Miara, Vörösmarty, Stewart, Wollheim & Rosenzweig, 2013). The energy sector comprises the totality of all these industries which are crucial in the operation and maintenance of critical infrastructure and strategic national resources in the United States.

The energy sector in the USA has continuously been faced with the immense challenge of ensuring sufficient supply of energy to the different sectors of the economy. Given that the USA forms the second largest consumers of energy, the nation’s energy sector has the responsibility of ensuring the sufficient supply of power to the critical infrastructure listed by the Department of Homeland Security (Miara, Vörösmarty, Stewart, Wollheim & Rosenzweig, 2013). To ensure effective protection of these key infrastructures, the energy companies in the United States have developed innovative and effective technologies such as the smart grid technology, and effective energy storage; transmission and distribution systems which have ensured supply of essential energy to operate, maintain and protect complex infrastructure systems in the United States.

The energy sector in the USA has been divided into different subsectors which include the renewable energy, renewable fuels, oil and gas, nuclear energy, energy efficiency and smart grid technologies which operate and the federal laws and programs and support systems that ensure the efficient operation, maintenance and protection of key infrastructure in the nation. More specifically, the energy sector is keen to ensure the efficient serving of the critical infrastructure listed by the department of homeland security to ensure the safety and well being of the American people – rights which have been enshrined in the constitution (Miara, Vörösmarty, Stewart, Wollheim & Rosenzweig, 2013). Specifically, the renewable energy subsector has been able to serve the different consumers with clean energy that has been considered critical in facilitating sustainable development. Empirical evidence suggests that the United States is the global leading producer of renewable energy from geothermal, wind, hydroelectric power, biofuels, wind and solar. This puts the United States in a best position to supply energy to the specific consumers and infrastructures (Dey, 2017). Given the natural endowment of the nation to renewable fuels, oil and gas deposits and the use of nuclear power, United States remains at better position to provide energy to its critical infrastructure. Moreover, the advancement in technology has enabled the state to adequately provide energy for the different infrastructure (Dey, 2017). Such technologies include energy efficiency and smart grid technology to meet new high consumer demands and meeting the safety precautions.

Despite the advancement in technology and immense energy option available for the nation, there are numerous challenges which are threatening to the safety and security of the critical infrastructure. Considering the virtually all the industries in the United States are dependent on energy and that the various system are interrelated, there is a substantial risk of vulnerability to attack and acts of terror. It is therefore, important for the department of homeland security and the various stakeholders in the energy sector to come together in voluntary effort to ensure safety of the energy systems and preparedness in case of attack (Dey, 2017).

Vulnerability of the USA Energy Sector

The vulnerability of the USA energy sector comes from the reliance of nearly all key infrastructures on the consumption of energy. The advancement in technology has brought in another threat in the form of cyber security. The department of energy and the various energy companies have to come up with strategies to ensure that their systems and the key infrastructure of the nation are well protected (Miara, Vörösmarty, Stewart, Wollheim & Rosenzweig, 2013). The threats posed to the safety of critical national resources and infrastructure calls for joint voluntary efforts to reduce the significance of vulnerability and be well prepared for any possible outcome as far as the primary infrastructure are concerned (Miara, Vörösmarty, Stewart, Wollheim & Rosenzweig, 2013). Some of the common strategies to ensure protection of the national resources and infrastructure include provision of information to each other and sharing together the best practices that would ensure safety of key infrastructure. Other methods of reducing vulnerability include developing sector specific programs that will have specific risk management frameworks to curb potential threats (Miara, Vörösmarty, Stewart, Wollheim & Rosenzweig, 2013). This will require involvement of private sector, the general public and the government agencies.

Energy Challenges in the USA

The energy sector in the US is undergoing unprecedented change which has come due to the increased energy consumption, new technologies and constantly changing requirements. To continue the economic growth and ensuring national security is upheld, the energy sector must rise up to the new challenge and provide transformative solutions to address the challenges in order to meet the national energy goals and objectives.

Since the development of National Infrastructure protection plan in 2013, the energy sector has been facing new threats and challenges which have also provided new opportunities to develop stronger systems that will help in ensuring adequate safety and protection of the critical infrastructures that depend on energy (Miara, Vörösmarty, Stewart, Wollheim & Rosenzweig, 2013). Some of the most significant threats to the energy sector include the change in supply chains, advanced levels of both physical and cyber insecurity and climate and environmental change. Ageing infrastructure has also heightened the risk posed to the protection plan of critical infrastructure. Climate change, continued cyber security threats, possible terrorist attacks, unpredictable weather events such as the Irma hurricane and other calamities have been classified to be challenges and risks facing the energy sector. Given the different energy sources in the US ranging from electricity, oil and gas, the problems and challenges faced by each sub sector is different. This has made it difficult to provide wholesome risk management measures to ensure safety and security of the critical infrastructure.

Research evidence relating to risk assessment in the energy sector has identified different factors to contribute to the challenges faced by the energy sector (Miara, Vörösmarty, Stewart, Wollheim & Rosenzweig, 2013). The risks were examined to be arising from financial to operational. Focussing on the electricity subsector, several challenges were identified to pose biggest problems in ensuring the protection of critical national infrastructure. The challenges included extreme weather events with the potential of causing massive resource destruction, cyber security threats, technical human errors, lack of up to date equipment and obsolete infrastructure, ineffective regulatory requirements and changes in the occupational environments (Jackson, 2015).

Research conducted in the field of oil and gas identified the geological linkage of the underground oil and gas channels to be one of the most critical threats in the oil and gas energy subsector (Dey, 2017). The research suggested the different and conflicting international law regarding mining and exploration of underground resources posses’ major threat to the extraction of the energy sources which has contributed a huge chunk in provision of energy to critical infrastructure in the country. A survey conducted among the top 100 energy exploration companies in the United States suggested that constant change of domestic and international legislations due to health and environmental concerns poses a huge problem in the future of the oil and gas energy subsector. In addition, there is frequent fluctuation of the oil and gas prices both the local and international market and the hazards such as oil spills and gas blowout resulting to personal injuries to massive destruction of property (Dey, 2017).

Cyber Security Challenge to Critical infrastructure Specific to the Energy Sector

Empirical evidence suggests that the tactics used by cyber criminals to attack and pose threats are constantly changing. Cyber criminals are constantly developing advanced and much stronger malware to enable intrusion to the strongly protected systems. However, the motivation and the reasons behind cyber attacks have remained the same (Jackson, 2015). In developing systems to protect critical national infrastructure and resources in the energy sector, it is important to understand the reasons behind cyber attacks and make future technological predictions that could help keeping the information systems safe and secure. In a report published by the department of homeland security in the year 2015, it was found that by the end of 2012, there were a total of 42 intrusions into the energy sector ranging from cyber crime, espionage, and warfare and hacking. It was also noted that most of the cyber attacks on energy organisations are rarely detected raising serious concerns on the safety of the critical national infrastructure dependent on energy (Jackson, 2015).

The biggest threat in form of cyber security facing the energy sector and its critical infrastructure is the ransom-ware. This is a situation whereby cyber criminals get behold of critical access data for a given computer or database and demand for ransom payment. Another threat to the energy sector is hacktivism where the main motivation is to propagate a specific ideology in order to cause damage, embarrassment and disruption to the target victim organisations. They mostly sort out for public recognition through the media and other public communication channels (Jackson, 2015). Cyber espionage in information security attacks is motivated by desire to access classified and confidential information for either economic gain or access to individual or personal information (Penney, Melanie, Stark & Sheales, 2012).

The most serious challenge to the safety and security of national infrastructure are cyber attacks. Cyber attacks directly affect the critical infrastructure and in any case they happen they can result to international military action (Jackson, 2015). Cyber attacks have been classified and deemed to be propagated by other nations which can cause massive destruction of the critical national infrastructure where the well-being safety and livelihood of most Americans are dependent on (Miara, Vörösmarty, Stewart, Wollheim & Rosenzweig, 2013). The department of Homeland Security have dedicated resources and measures to ensure safety of the critical infrastructure against external and internal cyber attacks. With the advancement in technology and increasing tension over the superiority of world superpowers, all efforts have been channelled towards ensuring safety of critical infrastructure against attack (Jackson, 2015). The risk level to national resources and infrastructure has only increased in the last half a decade posing the greatest challenge to the energy sector and DHS department to increase protection measures to its national infrastructure. The United States government have since categorised cyber attacks as an act of war due to its potential of causing massive destruction and widespread degradation of key resources and critical infrastructure. Cyber attacks have the capability of putting a nation at ransom which can greatly compromise the nation’s principles and values representing the greatest present and future challenge facing the energy sector (Jackson, 2015).

The department of energy as the sector specific agency for energy in the nation together with all energy companies and the DHS should make common efforts that are prioritised to ensure strengthening of the security systems to ensure safety of critical infrastructure (Penney, Melanie, Stark & Sheales, 2012). A day by day update program should be developed to enable sharing of information and ideas in developing more resilient systems to curb and prevent current and future attacks (Kerigan-Kyrou, 2013). Cooperation among all stakeholders has been identified as the best method and strategy to ensure protection of critical national resources and infrastructure.

Natural Calamities and Extreme Weather Events as a Challenge to Critical Infrastructure in the Energy Sector

Climate change due to the green house warming has caused unpredictable change in climatic conditions across the globe. Currently, the world is experiencing natural calamities and extreme weather events that have the potential of causing massive damage and destruction of critical infrastructure (Penney, Melanie, Stark & Sheales, 2012). Most of these extreme weather conditions have had an impact in the United States. Expert predictions point out that with the continued destruction of the environment, the possibility of occurrence of further extreme weather conditions is possible. Recently, the United States was hit by hurricane Irma which resulted into massive destruction of property and negatively impacted the critical infrastructure in the nation (Penney, Melanie, Stark & Sheales, 2012). These are extreme weather events that pose substantial risk on critical national infrastructures. Research evidence suggests that there has been an increase in the frequency of cascading events whose impacts negatively affect critical infrastructure in the nation (Kerigan-Kyrou, 2013).

The increases in cascading events have called into question the level of preparedness of the various departments to handle emergency situations (Miara, Vörösmarty, Stewart, Wollheim & Rosenzweig, 2013). Since the Hurricane Katrina, Ocean Tsunamis and the bombings that occur in the Western countries, awareness has been raised on the potential problem created by these events on critical natural infrastructures. Natural disasters have the capability of causing widespread breakdown of essential services resulting to great harm and transboundary catastrophes (Penney, Melanie, Stark & Sheales, 2012). Though the natural events are unpredictable and out of human control, there are specific measures that can be taken to curb or reduce the amount of destruction or damage on the critical natural infrastructures (Penney, Melanie, Stark & Sheales, 2012).

Other natural events that have recently posed threat to the existence of the critical national infrastructure include the eruption of active volcanoes such as the Eyjafjallajökul volcano in the year 2010. Such events call for improve risk management systems and programs that will ensure better handling of the emergency situations. The major aim of identifying such unforeseeable events is to protect critical natural infrastructure which forms the backbone of the nation’s economy (Kerigan-Kyrou, 2013).

Empirical evidence suggests that critical infrastructure has the potential of escalating extreme weather events resulting to much higher impact that the expected ones (Kerigan-Kyrou, 2013). For instance, heavy storms can result in disruption of power supply causing massive fires. Such events have the capability of causing total failure of critical infrastructure resulting in high economic losses and destruction of property. The interdependence between the different critical infrastructure and the energy systems can be create a problem that poses a potential threat to the safety of infrastructure of national importance (Penney, Melanie, Stark & Sheales, 2012). The relationship between different critical infrastructure and their interconnectedness have not been investigated. However, in the wake of the stated discovery, it is imperative to identify the relationship between the critical infrastructure such as communication, transport and energy production to determine points of weakness that are threatening the driving forces of the US economy (Penney, Melanie, Stark & Sheales, 2012).

Terrorists Threat to Critical Infrastructure

Global terrorism has been on the rise in the past decade. One of the primary targets of perpetrator organisations is the United States. In their acts of terror, they have always targets critical infrastructure in the nation where they are guaranteed to cause massive destruction and loss of American lives. Recent terrorism activity has made it a priority or the DHS and the energy sector to consider it as one of the main challenges to critical energy infrastructure in the country (Penney, Melanie, Stark & Sheales, 2012). Terror attacks on critical facilities around Europe have raised red alarm on the potential attacks on the US soil. This is the main reason the US should consider the rise of terrorism to be one of the main challenges to protection efforts of critical infrastructure driving the nations’ economy. Terror groups target their attacks on facilities that they feel will result in unavailability of services critical to the well being of the people (Penney, Melanie, Stark & Sheales, 2012). They make sure their targets would have a significant impact on the nation’s ability to provide basic services and that the national defence and security systems would not have adequate time to respond (Kerigan-Kyrou, 2013).

Some of the critical infrastructure that have been targeted by terrorist groups include the banking and the financial sector, air transport and the rail systems, health care infrastructure, energy production units and food and water supplies (Kerigan-Kyrou, 2013). The entire stated infrastructures are dependent on energy and electricity. Therefore in propagating their attacks, terrorist can target the energy production, supply, transmission and distribution systems to cause massive causalities and damage to the nations’ economy (Gearhart, 2016). By causing massive failure or destruction of the stated critical infrastructure the terrorist would have achieved their target of disruption of conducive social and political well being.

Other factors that are posing a challenge to the energy sector and critical infrastructure in the country include the aging infrastructure and easy access and fast spread of information. Some of the critical infrastructures are among the oldest facilities of the nation (Kerigan-Kyrou, 2013). The old infrastructures have become obsolete and are being outpaced by the changing environmental and technological demands. The constant changes have made the infrastructure to be less resilient to potential threats. Old infrastructure has become vulnerable to the changing weather demands which have become extreme and have already resulted to massive loss of critical property. The aging infrastructure therefore represents one of the critical issues that need to be addressed to ensure safety of critical national infrastructure (Kerigan-Kyrou, 2013). New updated systems need to be put in place to ensure safety of key national infrastructure and that the nation is protected and safe (Gearhart, 2016). On the other hand, fast spread of information over the internet has made critical information available to terror groups who can plan deadly attacks to key infrastructure (Gearhart, 2016). This has increased the prevalence of cyber attacks with the potential of causing war. The availability of critical information and the rapid nature of its spread have increased the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to attacks (Kerigan-Kyrou, 2013).

Conclusion

Critical infrastructure forms the backbone of the United States economy. The infrastructure forms the driving force of the nation’s economy. Importantly, the critical infrastructure are related and interconnected in a way that failure of one could result in failure of others. Virtually the entire critical infrastructure is energy dependent. This makes the energy sector to be at the centre of importance in maintaining the nation’s economic lifeline. The USA forms the second largest consumer of energy. It is therefore important to ensure optimum protection of all key infrastructures dependent on the energy sector. The protection measures include the identification of challenges and problems facing the energy sector critical infrastructure and finding measures to reduce the level of vulnerability while increasing the resilience of the systems. All stakeholders in the energy sector from the department of homeland security, energy companies and the department of energy should come together and share real time information and ideas to make the critical infrastructures more resilient and increase the preparedness levels in case of emergency situations.