Infrastructure systems are the backbone of communities. Critical infrastructure are those
infrastructure systems and assets that are so vital that their incapacitation or destruction would
have a debilitating effect on security, the economy, public health, public safety, or any
combination thereof. Critical infrastructure systems are made of individual assets that work
together as an integrated system and some of the most critical infrastructure systems are energy,
communications, water, and transportation (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency,
n.d.). These four systems are important to us as individuals and as a society, the economy would
be in shambles without these because the function of other systems are dependent on them.
Communication affects cell towers, telephone lines, broadcasting, etc. Energy is affiliated with
power plants, transformers, fuel terminals, and more. Transportation has to do with roadways,
railways, ports, airports, pipelines and the water system comprises storage tanks, water
treatment, wastewater treatment. Without water alone our lives are at risk. Threats to critical
infrastructures can be classified into 3 categories, natural threats, human-caused, and accidental
or technical. Natural threats are natural disasters like tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, volcanic
eruptions. The transportation and communication sectors are at greater risk in this category.
Human-caused threats a.k.a terrorism includes cyber attacks, rioting, product tampering,
explosions and bombing. Accidental and technological threats include such issues as
transportation accidents and failures, infrastructure failures and hazardous material accidents.
Most critical infrastructure systems are in close proximity with one another and are often
controlled by a general system, this increases vulnerability to the above threats (Robles et al.,
n.d., pg17-19).
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) refers to industrial control systems used to
control infrastructure systems both critical and non-critical. It is a general system that oversees
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the infrastructure systems by monitoring and controlling remote equipment and resources
SCADA systems provide greater efficiency, in terms of faster and more coordinated system
control than human operation, as well as lower operational costs and better use of scarce human
and financial resources. I wouldn’t say it mitigates the vulnerabilities of the infrastructure
systems, it makes them more advanced in a way and allows for free flow of operation. That
responsibility has made it a target of cyberattacks because the devices were not made with
cybersecurity in mind and with critical systems like transportation and water under its control, it
may do more harm than good.