The Bridge - Issue 2, 2023 - 15

Bridging the Gap between Cybersecurity and Reliability for Critical National Infrastructures
Feature
websites, or email attachments. Malware can expose the
safety of CNI information systems and enable the hacker to
obtain access or control without authorization [2].
to operate in accordance with its requirements under
specific operational and temporal conditions. Reliability
is the possibility that the system will work properly for a
certain amount of time. Those requirements determine
how well the system can accommodate the application's
requirements. In order to determine the system's reliability,
we need to have a thorough understanding of the system's
components and how they work. To determine a system's
reliability, it is necessary to calculate the dependability of
each subsystem or entity, as well as their connections and
interdependencies.
Figure 1. Critical Infrastructure Sectors
To provide cybersecurity and reliability for CNIs, there are
various efforts that both governments and agencies can
employ, including:
* Having systems and policies to address and overcome
incidents that may occur.
* Performing periodic assessments of security status and
testing for penetration.
* Employing robust security mitigation measures, such
as intrusion detection systems, cryptography methods,
firewalls, anti-virus software, and emerging security
technologies (i.e., Blockchain technology, Artificial
Intelligence).
* Maintaining and updating software and hardware on a
periodic schedule.
* Providing appropriate cybersecurity training to staff.
* Enforcing robust new cybersecurity technology policies
and operating procedures.
By implementing these actions, agencies can assist in
securing and protecting their organizations' critical assets
as well as ensuring the availability of continuous and
necessary services to their customers. We focus on the gap
between cybersecurity and reliability for CNIs and present
future solutions.
II. RELIABILITY IN CNIS
Safety and security are essential for the dependable
operation of cyber-physical systems (CPS) because of
the close connection between the cyber and physical
components. Security implies protection from both
intentional and unintentional threats, whereas safety aims
to protect systems from unintentional actions. Moreover,
reliability is a metric that measures a system's ability
One of the primary functions of a CNI is to ensure the
consistent offering of its service to customers. When
referring to reliability, the existence of protection systems
that can automatically respond to service interruptions
caused by faults or attacks is included. Depending on the
service provided, several automated incident response
mechanisms must be in place. For example, for power
systems, protective devices must detect hardware faults
like short circuits or aging equipment, as well as a variety
of other incidents like severe weather, human error, or
cyber attacks, and initiate automated response actions
like opening network breakers. The grid outage time and
the effect of fault currents on the system and customers
are minimized by these protective devices' prompt and
effective intervention. Having in mind that all digital
services are dependent on continuous energy supply, we
understand that these countermeasures could potentially
apply to all CNIs.
The reliability (in terms of integrity) of the data received by
the data concentrators and hardware and software failures
for the communication and industrial control networks must
also be taken into account when conducting CNIs reliability
calculations. Methods for evaluating reliability fall into two
main categories: techniques based on analysis and those
based on simulation. Analytical methods are hard to use on
complicated systems and hard to keep up with changes in
Figure 2. Types of Cybersecurity Threats
HKN.ORG
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The Bridge - Issue 2, 2023

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