CYBER SECURITY AND RISK MANAGEMENT: SUPPLY CHAIN CHALLENGES IN CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Critical infrastructure refers to the essential components required for a country or organisation to maintain its basic functioning. This scope includes energy, communication, transportation and many other sectors.
While elements such as electricity transmission lines, communication networks and water supply infrastructure in the energy sector concern the whole country, structures such as data centres are the basic building blocks that only concern the relevant institution and constitute critical infrastructure.
Before getting into the details of critical infrastructure, it is necessary to examine the definition of this term from two different perspectives. The first of these is the technological infrastructure and data centres that enable large institutions, such as banks and insurance companies, to provide services when referred to as critical infrastructure. White-collar employees especially generally perceive the term ‘infrastructure’ in this way.
From another point of view, the definition of this term refers to much larger production and service facilities such as large factories, transportation services and energy production facilities. This definition is a statement that concerns everyone, because it is in such production centres that the energy, water, transportation and other physical products we need to sustain our lives are created. The term ‘critical infrastructure’ used in this article covers and includes both definitions.
Critical infrastructure forms the backbone of every organisation that uses technology heavily. Services provided at the country level, such as power generation facilities and transportation services, are far more critical and affect many more people. Daily corporate operations, services to customers and communication networks are crucial for daily operations and corporate security.
Jan-Mar 2024 Issue
ISACA