Cyber-Attacks Against Critical Infrastructure

Abstract

In the cyber world, the most important threat focuses on critical infrastructure (CI). CI encompasses the structures and functions that are vital to society’s uninterrupted functioning. It comprises physical facilities and structures as well as electronic functions and services. Critical infrastructure systems comprise a heterogeneous mixture of dynamic, interactive, and non-linear elements. In recent years, attacks against critical infrastructures, critical information infrastructures and the Internet have become ever more frequent, complex and targeted because perpetrators have become more professional. Attackers can inflict damage or disrupt on physical infrastructure by infiltrating the digital systems that control physical processes, damaging specialized equipment and disrupting vital services without a physical attack. Those threats continue to evolve in complexity and sophistication.