Critical infrastructure: understanding the threat

Abstract

With nation state cyber-meddling now an acknowledged problem, there's growing concern about the threats to critical national infrastructure (CNI) – everything from water treatment plants through electricity generation and distribution to air traffic control. The vulnerability of systems that underpin the functioning of society isn't exactly news to security specialists. But now politicians and the general public are waking up to the potential carnage that hackers could wreak. As Scott King, a senior director at Rapid7, explains in this interview, the threats are real, but not necessarily in the way people imagine. With nation state cyber-meddling now an acknowledged problem, there's growing concern about the threats to critical national infrastructure (CNI). The vulnerability of the systems that underpin the functioning of society isn't exactly news to security specialists. But now politicians and the general public are waking up to the potential havoc that hackers could wreak. As Scott King of Rapid7 explains in this interview, the threats are real, but not necessarily in the way people imagine.