Critical National Infrastructure Research Articles

A methodological approach for characterisation of critical national infrastructure

A methodological approach for characterisation of critical national infrastructure

A methodological Approach for Characterization of Critical National Infrastructure

A methodological Approach for Characterization of Critical National Infrastructure

Comprehensive reliability evaluation of water-energy nexus systems

• New reliability model is developed for integrated Water-Energy Nexus (WEN). • An augmented probabilistic algorithm is devised to evaluate the reliability of WEN. • Renewable energy sources and energy storage are considered in reliability analysis. • Both mechanical failures and hydraulic analysis of the water system are considered. • Three reliability indices for water system considering power reliability are devised. • Power supply reliability is an unneglectable factor as three overall reliability indices of water system increase by 19.7%, 32.6%, and 26.9% respectively when it is considered. Water and power systems are two national critical infrastructures which support our daily life and economic growth. Both are highly interconnected and complex networks, which consist of various system elements. The core functions of water and power distribution systems are to deliver satisfactory water and electric services to consumers by satisfying the demands at all load points. Besides the factors in the water distribution system itself, power supply may affect the performance of the water distribution system. Therefore, the two systems are in fact physically connected and coupled. The purpose of this study is to develop an appropriate model and an efficient evaluation algorithm to quantify the reliability of the water distribution and power supply system as an integrated Water-Energy Nexus (WEN). This paper proposes a probabilistic reliability evaluation method for the micro-WEN model based on the sequential Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) procedure. In the proposed evaluation procedure, both mechanical failures and hydraulic analysis are taken into consideration. Case studies are performed based on a representative water-energy nexus system to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Securing Critical National Infrastructure Against Hacktivist

The acts of hacktivists in today's modern world might have extremely negative repercussions for the order and peace of countries. Hacktivists, by the very nature of their methodology, invariably target important government installations. This research focuses mostly on investigating the myriad of approaches that may be taken to cyber-secure important national infrastructure against the maneuvers that can be carried out by hacktivists. Inferences are drawn in this study from hacktivism episodes that occurred in the past and were documented by a variety of sources, some of which may be verified. A four-point cyber security plan for important national infrastructure has been developed as a way to provide direction for the execution of cybersecurity measures by key state facilities. This scheme was inspired by the ideas presented previously. Keywords: Critical National Infrastructure, Security, Hacktivists, Cyberspace, Hacking, Cybercrime

Impact of cyberspace on the cybersecurity of critical national assets infrastructures in Nigeria: A review of education and financial sectors

Unprepared with a fragile digital infrastructures, and hurriedly tossed into the depth of the cyberspace in the Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions (4IR and 5IR) by Covid-19 pandemic measures, of lockdown and needs for remote learning. The educational sector became the most vulnerable; with streams of cyber-attacks stalling virtual classes and compromising data integrity, of which the financial sector was not exempted, despite the evolvement of cyber insurance policy. The financial end users are aggravated and left at the mercy of internet fraudsters called “yahoo-yahoo” boys, coupled with hacking of SWIFT, crypto currency thefts, and Nations’ Central Banks falling into cyber-attacks, thus leaving no unconquered space for cybercriminals, even as cyber literacy and security are siloed away under stand-alone arrangements despite the interconnectedness of the cyberspace. It was against this background, that this study leverages on Theory of Endogenous Growth Model to interrogate impact of cyberspace on the protection of critical national assets and infrastructures in Nigeria. The study deconstruct national assets into education and financial sectors to assess the existing impact. This study adopts qualitative research design using exploratory research design of publicly available archive documents. Empirical evidence from study revealed that cyberspace has expanded the virtual learning horizon while cyber attacks still remain on the minimal. Findings that emanate from this study revealed cyberspace has positively impacted on the Nigeria Financial sector through financial inclusion and transaction conveniences while the damaging effect of cyberattacks remained largely covered up. The study recommends that all players in the educational sector should invest widely in cybersecurity as days of imminent cyberattacks is on the horizon as seen evolving in developed clime. Study also recommend that government should firm up cyberspace policy, and inject collectivism into cyber security plans of sectors as an improvement on the present stand alone security by banks in Nigeria.

Impact of cyberspace on the cybersecurity of critical national assets infrastructures in Nigeria: A review of education and financial sectors

Impact of cyberspace on the cybersecurity of critical national assets infrastructures in Nigeria: A review of education and financial sectors

A Resilient Cyber-Physical Demand Forecasting System for Critical Infrastructures against Stealthy False Data Injection Attacks

The safe and efficient function of critical national infrastructure (CNI) relies on the accurate demand forecast. Cyber-physical system-based demand forecasting systems (CDFS), typically found in CNI (such as energy, water, and transport), are highly vulnerable to being compromised under false data injection attacks (FDIAs). The problem is that the majority of existing CDFS employ anomaly-based intrusion detection systems (AIDS) to combat FDIAs. Since the distribution of demand time series keeps changing naturally with time, AIDS treat a major change in the distribution as an attack, but this approach is not effective against colluding FDIAs. To overcome this problem, we propose a novel resilient CDFS called PRDFS (Proposed Resilient Demand Forecasting System). The primary novelty of PRDFS is that it uses signature-based intrusion detection systems (SIDS) that automatically generate attack signatures through the game-theoretic approach for the early detection of malicious nodes. We simulate the performance of PRDFS under colluding FDIA on High Performance Computing (HPC). The simulation results show that the demand forecasting resilience of PRDFS never goes below 80%, regardless of the percentage of malicious nodes. In contrast, the resilience of the benchmark system decreases sharply from about 99% to less than 30%, over the simulation period as the percentage of malicious nodes increases.

Rethinking Resilience

The Engineer visited Thales Ebbw Vale to find out how the company is helping to protect critical national infrastructure and secure the technologies of tomorrow

Protection of critical infrastructure in Norway – factors, actors and systems

The main aim of this article is to examine how the issue of protecting critical infrastructure is addressed in Norway. To answer this question, the article addresses two important sub-questions – what is to be understood in the current historical and the specific Norwegian context as important elements of national critical infrastructure and what is the current understanding of risks and threats that this infrastructure should be protected against? This article is based on a detailed quantitative and qualitative examination of the official Norwegian documents and statements on questions related to various aspects of protecting critical infrastructure in Norway. In section one, structural factors that have played a major part in shaping Norwegian thinking about critical infrastructure are discussed. Section two provides a short summary of the current discussion on elements of critical infrastructure in Norway. In section three, the article discusses official Norwegian perceptions of threats and how they address questions related to critical infrastructure. The fourth section looks at the current official approach to protection of critical infrastructure in the country. The process of building the existing system for protecting critical infrastructure in Norway has been driven by both domestic and international concerns. The system should make it possible for citizens to meet their needs through access to various important societal functions, but it also needs to make it possible to address challenges that stem from the international environment.

National Security Strategies and Critical Infrastructure: An Analysis of the European Union Member States

"The national security strategies of the European Union Member States emphasise the role of critical infrastructure in providing essential services to society and the necessity to protect them in the context of national security and defence. Thus, the protection of critical infrastructure lies not only with the critical infrastructure operator or administrator, but also with governmental institutions. Threats to critical infrastructure are actually threats to national security. An unwanted event involving one or more critical infrastructures involves the intervention of local, regional and national structures. The EU Member States are aware that threats to critical infrastructure pose serious threats to national security and even to the EU’s security and defence. In this regard, the EU Member States have included in their national security strategies a number of critical infrastructure issues, such as their importance, necessity, development, functionality, efficiency and last but not least their protection and resilience to all types of threats. This study highlights the inclusion of critical infrastructure in the security strategies of the EU Member States and the involvement of states in ensuring and strengthening the appropriate protection of national and European critical infrastructures."

A Systematic Review of Smart City Infrastructure Threat Modelling Methodologies: A Bayesian Focused Review

Smart city infrastructure and the related theme of critical national infrastructure have attracted growing interest in recent years in academic literature, notably how cyber-security can be effectively applied within the environment, which involves using cyber-physical systems. These operate cross-domain and have massively improved functionality and complexity, especially in threat modelling cyber-security analysis—the disparity between current cyber-security proficiency and the requirements for an effective cyber-security systems implementation. Analysing risk across the entire analysed system can be associated with many different cyber security methods for overall cyber risk analysis or identifying vulnerability for individually modelled objects. One method for performing risk analysis proposed in the literature is by applying Bayesian-based threat modelling methodologies. This paper performs a systematic literature review of Bayesian networks and unique alternative methodologies for smart city infrastructure analysis and related critical national infrastructures. A comparative analysis of the different methodological approaches, considering the many intricacies, metrics, and methods behind them, with suggestions made for future research in the field of cyber-physical threat modelling for smart city infrastructure.

WAYS TO RESTORE NATIONAL TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS ACTIVITIES IN THE POSTWAR PERIOD

The article is devoted to the issue of finding effective ways to restore the sector of transport and logistics activities of the country in the postwar period, which is currently relevant for Ukraine. The state of international transportation during the war is analyzed. It is established that the process of restoration of the transport and logistics sector in the country is already underway and consists of a number of measures in the field of customs, logistics and transports. The experience of restoring the transport sector in European countries as part of the national critical infrastructure is considered. It is determined that one of the main conditions for effective economic recovery is international support. The key programs, diplomatic and legal documents that formed the basis for the creation of international support for Ukraine in economic recovery in general and the transport sector in particular are considered. The basic directions in which the action of the specified support for transport and logistics activity is directed are established.

Building an effective business continuity framework: Case study of a critical national infrastructure organisation’s approach

Organisations are regularly exposed to risk factors and issues that may be triggered by disruptive events that can impact on the organisation’s performance and reputation. These disruptions can range from human error through to large-scale natural disasters and long-term global events that can reshape the complex landscape within which these organisations operate. Large-scale business actions, such as decentralisation, mergers and acquisitions, can also introduce major disruption to daily operations. The presence of an embedded, effectively communicated business continuity framework that is rigorously reviewed and tested with appropriate regularity provides an enhanced level of protection and flexibility when faced with such issues. This case study analyses the development of a business continuity framework in a large business unit that operates as part of a UK critical national infrastructure provider with an international influence. The study proposes a business continuity capability framework and examines the approach taken to embed such a framework into the aforementioned business unit.

Design of a Secure Internet of Artificially Intelligent Things in the 6G Era

Due to the edge learning advancements, we are witnessing a surge in edge intelligent IoT devices. More and more artificially intelligent things (AIT) are now seen as part of different real-life systems. Researchers have proposed that AIT be part of the future 6G architecture in which the AITs need to be connected securely. High-level 6G architecture will incorporate unit AITs to make bigger digital intelligent eco-systems. While digitally connected AITs will be part of many critical national infrastructures, the security, and privacy of the AITs and human life must be critically considered. Researchers have proposed software-defined security as a service (SDSaaS) to automatically monitor such system vulnerabilities with greater accuracy. In this article, we review the AI-powered security system that will allow the communication between the AITs and their corresponding cyber entities to be secure from security threats. Specifically, we survey the deep learning algorithms that will allow different network elements to be secure from adversaries. Finally, we present a proof-of-concept implementation of our proposed deep learning application.

Assessment of the technical condition of the power supply of electronic airport security systems in the aspect of electromagnetic disturbances

Airports are classified as national critical infrastructure facilities mainly due to their strategic importance. Therefore, they require special protection for their functioning. These systems are not only influenced by factors related to the intensity of use but are also exposed to the influence of external and internal, natural and artificial electromagnetic disturbances. For the selected electronic security system (ESS) of the airport, a graph of relations in the system in terms of reliability and operation will be developed. Subsequently, it will enable mathematical analyses to obtain a system of equations describing the system. The obtained results of the reliability and operational analysis of the selected airport ESS, taking into account electromagnetic disturbances, made it possible to estimate the probabilities of the system being in the selected states. The introduction of the factor describing the level of the impact of electromagnetic disturbances on ESS allows for estimating the effectiveness of various solutions counteracting such interactions' effects. The presented reliability and operational analysis of the selected electronic security system used to protect the airport allowed us to estimate its most important reliability and operational parameters. The obtained dependencies make it possible to compare various electronic security systems solutions and select rational solutions for airport security.

The drift of industrial control systems to pseudo security

With the promise of a synergistic impact on the Efficiency-Thoroughness Trade-Off, Marketing is increasingly promoting types of Industrial Control Systems (ICS) that by some means combine the two usually segregated core ICS functions into one. A Basic Process Control System (BPCS) is combined with a Safety-Instrumented System (SIS) in a physically integrated form factor using shared resources of some kind. This paper suggests such a strategic choice of technology can result in functional safety (FS) hazards or security vulnerabilities, giving rise to resilience concerns. It takes a sceptical view of such an approach and instead proposes strict segregation of such functions and resources. In the context of critical national infrastructure (CNI), where potentially high consequence events (HCE) may arise from unplanned incidents, the outcome of this paper is to warn against the use of such architecture - even beyond that arena. Both ancient and modern, yet similarly strategic, historical decisions are used as metaphors to illustrate how sometimes insufficiently scrutinised technologies can be later regretted. Practical technical, organisational, and cultural measures are offered to steer against the headwind of commercial pressures in promoting integrated FS and security of the BPCS-SIS environment. A contribution is made of evidence-based, business intelligence gathering measures for BPCS-SIS vendor selection together with a proposal for an alternative, adopted application of proven Uncertainty Assessment Reporting techniques for industrial certification bodies and business stakeholders alike.

Preparing for hybrid warfare and cyberattacks on health services' digital infrastructure: What nurse managers need to know.

This article aims to outline the key concepts in hybrid warfare and cyberattack to better inform nurse managers in their strategic contribution to the defence of critical digital infrastructure. Hybrid warfare often targets a nation's critical digital infrastructure including that of health services. Hybrid warfare against national health services, primarily through cyberattack, is likely to increase in a more destabilized and conflictual international environment. Key literature, reports and assessments on hybrid warfare, advanced persistent threats and cyberattack referenced to health services were analysed. Health services are a key element of a nation's critical digital infrastructure and as such are a strategic target in hybrid warfare. Cyberattack through exploiting clinicians', such as nurses, online susceptibilities is a key route of attack. Nurse managers, to be effective planners, need to be fully informed about the context and specific nature of cyberattack. Articles about the relationship between hybrid warfare and cyberattack on health services digital infrastructure are rarely aimed at nurse managers. Nurse managers need to be fully informed about the geopolitical nature of cyberattacks if they are to be fully consulted and listened to in response planning in defence of health services' digital infrastructure.

A Review of Security Incidents and Defence Techniques Relating to the Malicious Use of Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

Critical national infrastructure sites, such as airports and nuclear facilities, have been subject to a number of airspace breaches from malicious unmanned aerial systems (UASs) in recent years. Not only can these incidents cause major disruptions, but they can have significant financial consequences. This article conducts a short review of security incidents caused by the malicious use of small UASs at airports and nuclear facilities. We conclude that the number of incidents of concern remain high and suggest the increased use of UAS with longer flight times, indicating a move away from commercially available platforms, which have limited flight times. The detection and classification methods presented in this review each have strong benefits but this is not withstanding their own challenges. Hence, this review recommends that more than one sensor type are considered in parallel for live systems. A comprehensive detection and classification system must extend further than typical commercially available platforms if we are to fully realize the threat. We also conclude that while successful countermeasure methods do exist there still remains many policy and legal challenges ahead for their implementation.

Asymmetrical Trusted Technology Networks in Developing Economies: A Case Study on Critical Infrastructure in Bhutan.

Developing Nations are subject to amplified challenges in terms of the integration of technology, and the exposure to non-domestic opportunism from larger neighboring economies. These challenges are recognizable as asymmetrical differences between what is seen as the normative list of critical infrastructures, and the specialisms that can dominate an emerging economy with early maturity technology networks. This paper discusses the case of Bhutan and demonstrates the need for strengthened approaches to trusted networks to ensure the reliability and continuity of the Nation's critical infrastructures. The paper also links the importance of trusted information sharing networks as part of an overarching technology strategy that protects the Gross National Happiness of the nation.

Need for a Cyber Resilience Framework for Critical Space Infrastructure

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a case for a standardised comprehensive cyber resilience framework for Critical Space Infrastructure (CSI). Based on structure systematic review and meta-analyses, this paper outlines the needs of a risk-based framework. Space assets are fundamental components of critical national infrastructure (CNI), whose destruction significantly impacts many lives. Moreover, today’s digitally connected space infrastructure is exposed to sophisticated and catastrophic cyber-attacks. This paper lays out the research gap to present the need for a comprehensive cyber resilience framework for CSI and future research and collaboration to understand the emergence of a new category of failures related to space-asset-reliance disruption risks.