Critical infrastructure cybersecurity addresses systems whose failure can affect public safety, health or essential economic activity. These environments often combine operational technology, older equipment, internet-connected services and strict requirements for availability.
Defenses need segmentation, asset knowledge, secure access, patching, monitoring, backups and tested recovery. Artificial intelligence can help defenders and attackers, so preparation should focus on reducing exploitable weaknesses and limiting the effect of one successful intrusion.
Acronyms and aliases
critical infrastructure security variant
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
What counts as critical infrastructure?
Examples include hospitals, water systems, energy, transport, communications, government services and digital infrastructure essential to society.
Why are cyberattacks on critical infrastructure especially serious?
Disruption can affect physical safety and essential services far beyond the organization whose network was initially compromised.
