Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure: Protecting National Assets in the Digital Age

Continued advancement in technologies that have influenced the delivery of critical infrastructures has changed the operational efficiency and the dynamism of the systems. Nevertheless, such a transition raises a set of cybersecurity questions, and the most pressing one is the protection of the country's critical infrastructures from cyber risks. Electricity power stations, roads, hospitals, telecommunication networks, banking buildings and other related building structures can be said to be the arteries of a country. These systems, in turn, are capable of suffering from any type of cyber-attack: this results in such scenarios as blackouts and social and economic problems, among others. The following paper is intended to describe the current state of affairs in relation to the cyber security of critical infrastructures and the kind of risks that such systems face. Measures of risk control, ways of protection, identity security systems, AI and big data security applications for threat assessment, and protection measures applied to secure the structure are other topics covered in the paper. In addition, the paper surveys governments, and private sectors as well as international organizations’ activities to develop sufficient cybersecurity measures. Some recent cases of cyber-attacks on important infrastructure are presented to support the argument that the problem of protecting critical facilities requires an immediate solution. In specific terms, the conclusion exhorts for a policy of layered security to contain, more specifically, a fusion of old-generation and new-generation defense systems in the digitization of resources.