Critical infrastructure is by nature a crucial part of a country’s operations. As such, those sectors are potential targets for terrorist organizations or other groups seeking to disrupt a nation’s day-to-day functions. The field of critical infrastructure security is therefore a key branch of homeland security, and security professionals must seek to identify and prevent threats against critical infrastructure. Security agencies and SSAs must work together as well to determine how best to strengthen the infrastructure and reduce vulnerability to future interference.
The various sectors of critical infrastructure are highly interdependent on one another. For example, the food and agriculture sector relies heavily on the transportation sector to move food from where it is grown or produced to where it is consumed. Similarly, the communications sector facilitates the operations of every other sector, and the information technology sector assists numerous other sectors with their computer-based operations. All of those sectors must collaborate to ensure the efficient, effective, and secure functioning of a nation’s infrastructural systems.
The Presidential Decision Directive 63 document established the framework to protect the critical infrastructure and the Presidential document of 2003, the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace stated that securing SCADA systems is a national priority. The critical infrastructure includes telecommunication, transportation, energy, banking, finance, water supply, emergency services, government services, agriculture, and other fundamental systems and services that are critical to the security, economic prosperity, and social well-being of the public. The critical infrastructure is characterized by interdependencies (physical, cyber, geo-graphic, and logical) and complexity (collections of interacting components). Cyber interdependencies are a result of the pervasive computerization and automation of infrastructures (Rinaldi, Peerenboom, & Kelly, 200 1). The critical infrastructure disruptions can directly and indirectly affect other infrastructures, impact large geographic regions, and send ripples throughout the national and global economy. For example, under normal operating conditions, the electric power infrastructure requires fuels (natural gas and petroleum), transportation, water, banking and finance, telecommunication, and SCADA systems for monitoring and control
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