Protecting What Matters: Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure

There’s a saying—if you can access something remotely, so can hackers. The increasing connectivity and convergence have, on one side, diminished physical perimeters, for the good. But they have also brought an increased influx of new threat classes. When it comes to critical infrastructure, though, the stakes are much higher—disruptions can impact essential services and even spark global unrest and tension.

According to a Sophos survey, 67% of energy, gas, and other utilities faced a ransomware attack in 2023 and 2024, and the recovery cost for two critical sectors—energy and water quadrupled to $3 million in a year. Add to this the growing prevalence of IoT attacks, and it’s clear how critical it is to protect the trust and reliability of these services.

In this blog, we’ll explore why critical infrastructure cybersecurity is essential, the key challenges, and how to build a solid cybersecurity program to safeguard important services.

What is critical infrastructure cybersecurity?

Critical infrastructure cybersecurity is the use of strategies, programs, and technological safeguards to help protect a nation’s essential assets, systems, and networks. Critical infrastructure is crucial for the functioning of the government and the citizens and includes essential services such as financial services, healthcare, energy, and transportation.

Importance of cybersecurity for critical infrastructure

According to a report by KnowBe4, 13 attacks occured per second on critical infrastructure between January 2023 and 2024, highlighting the need for digital resilience.

As the world becomes increasingly digitally connected, most essential services society relies on—banking, healthcare, or even energy grids—have digitized systems. This has created new entry points for attackers and the continuity of these services and national security depends on strong cybersecurity measures. 

Take the case of the healthcare service disruption. USA’s Change Healthcare system, which manages 14 billion transactions a year, experienced a ransomware attack. The system was down for about a month, and delayed service affected not only finances but also patient care.
So beyond protection, cybersecurity for critical infrastructure is also crucial to protecting sensitive data, minimizing economic losses, and maintaining public trust in the reliability of services.

Some of these attacks are also fuelled by geopolitical reasons. They do not aim to steal data but to simply disrupt services, such as the water station breach in Pennsylvania, which forced them to switch to manual operations. It’s just the evolving nature of the conflict.

Having a cybersecurity strategy to protect critical services is now essential in ensuring societal stability, growth, and public welfare.

Regulations in critical infrastructure

Critical infrastructure regulations provide a set of structured guidelines to help the operators enforce cybersecurity and compliance measures and ensure the reliability and availability of essential services.

Some frameworks for improving critical infrastructure cybersecurity include:

NIST CSF

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology is a widely recognized guidance tool for critical infrastructure cyber security. It’s a flexible framework that takes a risk-based approach to integrate cybersecurity activities into business operations and build resilience against threats and attacks.
The NIST framework for improving critical infrastructure cybersecurity is built on five core functions—Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover that help organizations develop an understanding of cyber risks, implement necessary measure,s and recover from events smoothly.

CIRCIA

The Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act (CIRCIA), 2022, is a US Federal law that mandates cyber incident reporting for critical infrastructure to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Incidents must be reported within 72 hours of discovery, and for ransomware attacks, the window is 24 hours.

The key purpose of the law is to ensure prompt response against threats and attacks targeting critical services. It also helps create a collaborative environment where CISA can work with affected industries to minimize operational downtime.

NIS2 Directive

The Network and Information Systems Directive 2 (NIS2 Directive) is a European Union law that ensures cybersecurity of critical infrastructure and essential services. It replaces the original NIS directive and expands its scope to cover more critical services. The law focuses on robust risk management, timely incident reporting, better governance, supply chain security, and cross-border cooperation.

The Directive imposes strict fines and penalties to ensure compliance and promote proactive preparedness across these key sectors.

ISO 27001

ISO 27001 is a leading Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) standard that systematically implements robust security practices to protect critical infrastructure. It guides organizations on risk assessment and treatment plans and offers guidance through comprehensive Annex A controls to address vulnerabilities.

The standard is globally accepted due to its flexibility and credibility and helps ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data making it ideal for critical service organizations.

Critical Infrastructure Information Act of 2002 (CII Act)

The Critical Infrastructure Information Act of 2002 (CII Act) is another US federal law encouraging information sharing between the private sector and government about cyber threats to critical infrastructure. It is overseen by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to encourage collaboration between government and private entities to mitigate risks without any fear of public disclosure and legal liabilities.

The information shared under this act helps the government prioritize security efforts for critical infrastructure and make well-informed decisions.

Steps to build a critical infrastructure cybersecurity program

Building a critical infrastructure cybersecurity program requires defining the scope and identifying critical assets to establishing governance, investing in the right technology and developing an incident response plan with each step contributing to a robust foundation.

Follow these steps to build a critical infrastructure cybersecurity program:

Define scope and objectives

Start with the scoping exercise to identify the systems, networks, and assets as these are the most critical systems of the business. For a healthcare provider this would be a patient database or medical devices, and for a power company it could be electrical grids. This is followed by setting up the objectives based on the scope such as protecting sensitive information or ensuring uninterrupted services. It provides clarity for your cybersecurity program and helps prioritize efforts effectively

Conduct a risk assessment to identify gaps

The next step is to identify unique risks based on threats, vulnerabilities, opportunities and challenges. Gartner suggests a scenario-planning exercise for this where you consider various scenarios relevant to your business context, understand the key drivers for the scenarios and work on high likelihood and high impact items.

You can also use a risk heat map to bring the right risks under your radar and link the priorities to your strategy.

Identify the existing controls and processes and map them to the high—and medium-priority risks to understand the potential gaps. This will help you set a blueprint for the mitigation plan ahead.

Establish governance and policies

Set up a governance framework with a structure defining key roles and responsibilities and the reporting lines for all stakeholders. Next, create relevant cybersecurity policies such as data classification, access control, incident response, and acceptable usage. Adopting a cybersecurity framework such as NIST CSF or ISO 27001 is a good approach to align policies and achieve baseline security.

A risk management committee with cross-functional leaders can oversee the implementation process and policy enforcement.

Invest in the right technology

Invest in the right technological solutions to enhance the organization’s ability to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber threats. The foundational solutions will include a next-gen Firewall, intrusion detection systems, endpoint detection and response, access management solutions, continuous monitoring, and encryption tools. Choose solutions that are scalable and seamlessly integrate with your current tech stack.

Comprehensive GRC tools such as Sprinto make more sense if you are subject to compliance. Sprinto has in-built security solutions such as ongoing monitoring, automated risk assessments, role-based access controls, Dr Sprinto MDM solutions and much more. This helps you save cost and labor while integrating cybersecurity efforts to business functions.

Develop an incident response plan

Have a structured process to detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity incidents with a well-defined incident response plan. The plan should clarify incident classification levels from low to high severity, escalation procedures, communication protocols, and steps for containment, eradicatio,n and recovery. Define the roles and responsibilities of the incident response team, train them on the plan, and test its effectiveness to enhance understanding and preparedness.

Create a vendor management program

Critical infrastructure heavily relies on third parties for various needs so it is crucial to address risks from supply chain or vendor partnerships. Identify and categorize all your vendors as high, medium, or low risk based on the information they have access to.
Conduct due diligence and risk assessments for all vendors and use security questionnaires to understand the vendor’s security maturity. Establish baseline security expectations from vendors, such as compliance with a basic cybersecurity framework, encryption, or multi-factor authentication. And lastly, enforce vendor contracts with well defined security requirements.

Continuously monitor and test defense mechanisms

Use automated tools or continuous monitoring mechanisms to track key performance indicators, network activities, logs and other control performance to identify any weaknesses in real-time. This helps with the prompt resolution of weaknesses and helps ensure that the organization stays ever-vigilant. Besides ongoing monitoring, there must also be period security assessments such as VAPT scans (Vulnerability assessments and penetration tests) and internal audits for compliance to ensure a solid cybersecurity posture and withstand new and evolving digital threats.

Conduct frequent reviews to discuss improvements

Schedule a review meeting with senior management where you present detailed reports with all key findings such as control performance, any recent incidents or regulatory updates. Discuss any identified gaps and feedback from key stakeholders to chalk out an improvement plan while aligning them with long-term cybersecurity and business goals.

How to manage critical infrastructure cybersecurity?

Effectively managing critical infrastructure cybersecurity requires three key success drivers—collaboration across private, state, and federal bodies, a committed leadership, and layered defense.

Collaboration across the public and private sectors helps pool the unique expertise of each of the sectors. Private organizations can help share information about emerging threats vulnerabilities, and risks to look out for. State governments can unify efforts across the bodies and oversee funding, resource sharing, and creating a shared environment. Federal or cybersecurity agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can offer national-level guidance and tools while managing local accountability.

Leadership commitment is necessary to signal a sense of urgency at the lower levels regarding cybersecurity initiatives. The leadership must ensure they regularly review and address cybersecurity concerns and promote a culture of accountability at functional levels. This keeps the teams motivated and helps build a risk-aware environment org-wide.

A Layered defense approach is essential to staying resilient as threats continue to evolve at a great speed. The approach combines two or three controls, whether preventive, detective, or corrective, to ensure defense-in-depth to manage risks while minimizing operational disruptions proactively. Examples of preventive controls include access management and employee training and detective and corrective controls include intrusion detection systems and backup systems, respectively.

Challenges to critical infrastructure cybersecurity

From outdated technology to public-private divide, here are the key challenges in critical infrastructure cybersecurity:

Threat sophistication has increased

While most organizations still struggle with fundamental problems such as weak passwords, the attackers are getting better each day, launching highly sophisticated attacks. Advanced threats that can instantly shut down essential services and cause massive impact include exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities, ransomware attacks, supply-chain attacks, AI-driven attacks, and the exploitation of IoT devices.

This evolving threat complexity highlights the need for advanced detection and response capabilities and a culture of cybersecurity.

Many systems rely on outdated technology

Many critical infrastructure organizations use legacy systems and technology that were used twenty or thirty years ago. These systems are not supported by modern vendors, are left without patches and updates, and do not integrate with the latest tools. This leads to gaps and loopholes that attackers can exploit, enhancing the overall attack surface area.

It’s time for critical services to collaborate with private entities and embrace next-gen tools to remain resilient and future-proof their operations.

There’s a public-private divide

The ownership of critical infrastructure is still fragmented, leading to mismatched objectives and priorities between the public and private sectors. The government’s risk perception is driven by ‘public safety’ and ‘national security’, while the private sector is focused on protecting customer data and ensuring business continuity. Although both are right on their part, there is a need for collaboration and coordination to take a unified approach to cybersecurity while maximizing public interest and business value.

A shortage of skilled workforce

According to a report by BCG, there is a global shortage of 2.8 million cybersecurity professionals. As breaches and attacks are on the rise, organizations need talented experts in specialized areas such as threat intelligence, penetration tests, compliance officers, and security analysts. The gap in the talent pool leads to slow adaptation to emerging threats and leaves the critical sector more vulnerable to threats.

The only way to tackle this is to retain the existing workforce and invest in awareness and training programs.

Smaller organizations face resource shortage

While large organizations have dedicated budgets and personnel for cybersecurity, small organizations usually hesitate to purchase advanced tools due to tighter resources. They also usually have two or three IT people who are overworked and burnt out because they handle multiple responsibilities—day-to-day operations, cybersecurity, and compliance.

To overcome this challenge, organizations can consider cost-effective and comprehensive and are purpose-built for small and medium businesses. Check out how Sprinto can help here.

International networks are interconnected

As governments increasingly rely on cross-border information exchanges and networks that span multiple countries, cyber threats are spreading across countries and industries. Vulnerabilities in supply chains or state-sponsored attacks due to tension between states are now a common sight. In addition, different countries have different regulations and cybersecurity mechanisms, leading to a lack of coordinated response.

To combat the challenge, governments should focus on international cooperation and harmonizing cybersecurity standards.

Ensure resilience and continuous compliance with Sprinto

Every country’s functionality and well-being sustain the effective operations of the critical infrastructure, and the key focus of the operators should be on delivering the essential services. Threats, attacks, or meeting regulatory requirements for each region must not bog them down. That is why tools like Sprinto exist to help them automate compliance, ensure strong implementation of security controls, and enhance resilience.

The next-gen GRC tool takes the burden off your shoulders and provides instant time-to-value with:

•  Automated workflows to help you achieve compliance across frameworks like NIST CSF, ISO 27001, SOC 2, and more.
• In-built policy templates to eliminate the need for creating from scratch and consistent policy enforcement
• Integrated risk management with a centralized platform to assess, prioritize and mitigate risks
• Continuous control monitoring with real-time updates along with multi-channel alerts for any deviations.
• Automated evidence collection for audit readiness
• Scalable solutions to grow as per your organization’s increasing needs

Watch the platform in action and kickstart your journey today.

FAQs

What role does private sector play in security critical infrastructure?

The private sector is responsible for managing and maintaining most of the critical infrastructure. The sector helps enhance the resilience of the infrastructure by contributing to risk management, investing in technological safeguards, collaborating with government agencies and sharing information on evolving threats.

What are the most common cyber attacks faced by critical infrastructure?

The most common cyber attacks faced by critical infrastructure include ransomware, IoT attacks, advanced persistent threats, zero-day exploits, supply chain attacks and DDoS attacks.

What is CIP in cybersecurity?

Critical Infrastructure Protection or CIP, is a set of cybersecurity standards that offer guidance on measures to safeguard critical services such as energy grids, water supply or transportation from threats and attacks. It helps ensure the continuity and reliability of these services by ensuring resilience and prompt mitigation of risks.