Critical Infrastructure Security

Abstract

What if a cyber-attack could result in explosions, large scale blackouts, intentional flooding, a nuclear meltdown or nuclear war? Hollywood has provided us with many examples of how hackers could intentionally or unintentionally cause catastrophic failures of critical infrastructure. In 1983’s Wargames, a hacker connects to a top-secret computer which is tied into the United States’ nuclear arsenal (IMDb, 2020). The 2007 movie Live Free or Die Hard, depicts hackers systematically shutting down the United States Stock Market, disrupting communications and traffic safety, and tampering with other critical infrastructure (IMDb, 2020). Lastly, the 2016 movie Zero Days details an attack on a foreign government’s nuclear enrichment facilities and other critical infrastructure (IMDb, 2020). All these examples may seem like farfetched Hollywood fantasies; yet the last example is a documentary of the United States’ collaboration with Israel to attack Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities and critical infrastructure. As demonstrated by these examples, the line between fiction and reality is being erased. Initially, this paper will analyze the concept of critical infrastructure by defining the term, briefly describing the sectors related to critical infrastructure, and describing why these sectors are critical. Next, this paper will analyze the United States’ preparedness to protect critical infrastructure and recommended best practices for fortifying these critical resources. Finally, this paper will conduct a comparison between the United States Cyber Security readiness to that of Germany.