Define critical infrastructure and services. Provide a high level overview of po

Question

Define critical infrastructure and services. Provide a high level overview of potential cyber risks to US critical infrastructure and services-- feel free to use real world examples to demonstrate risk. How can the US, and healthcare institutions more specifically, increase the resiliency of critical infrastructure and services?

*Don't think of critical infrastructures as separate but rather as related entities. An adversary doesn't have to hack a hospital network to shut down the hospital. He/She could just as easily hack into the electrical or heating utilities networks if they're a softer target (think January in Boston without heat) to effectively shut down a hospital.

Explanation / Answer

Critical infrastructure and services : The functioning of society and economy depends on the assets which is termed as critical infrastructure. It includes facilities for electricity generation, telecommunication, water supply, public health, transportation, financial services, security services.

Potential cyber risks to US critical infrastructure and services :

Cyber threat can be employed by exploiting corporate challenges like, unpatched OT/ICS equipment, excessive third party access, rogue devices, lack of security supply chain, physical/IT monitoring integration, inconsistent security controls, lack of business risk alignment, lack of risk-to-asset mapping. All these may lead to data loss, fraud or revenue loss, reputation damage, IP theft, threat to life or safety, operational disruption.

Resiliency of critical infrastructure and services :

USA had Critical Infrastructure Protection program since 1996. In 2014 the NIST Cybersecurity Framework was published. A number of critical infrastructures and responsible agencies was identified, The resilient approach includes : to be prepared for incidents and minimize their business impact. To detect incidents more effectively,it is essential to monitor systems, applications, people, and the outside environment.

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