Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA

The challenge is connecting those pieces into a model that protects infrastructure where downtime is not just expensive, but socially disruptive. Teams already studying the future of cloud security, next-gen SIEM capabilities, ransomware detection, response, and recovery, and cyber threat intelligence collection and analysis are already looking at the right pieces. The FBI’s 2024 IC3 Annual Report says ransomware remained the most pervasive threat to critical infrastructure, and complaints involving critical infrastructure rose 9% from 2023. Critical infrastructure security has entered a more dangerous phase because attackers no longer need to “break everything” to create national-scale damage. Electric power grids depend on cybersecurity mechanisms to maintain the reliability, stability and availability of electricity generation and distribution systems.

These realities are driving a new way of operating that must also include new cybersecurity considerations. “Smart Government” initiatives are driving innovative approaches to how governments can make use of data from more constituents, and smart sensors are changing the way militaries use real-time data from far afield. The Colonial Pipeline and JBS USA Holdings Inc. attacks together resulted in $15 million in paid ransom. According to Gartner, in large manufacturing, oil and gas organizations, the average cost of a downtime per minute can be anywhere between $5,000 to $10,000. The threat of crippling cyberattacks against industrial control systems has financial implications as well.

The physical security Situation Manuals cover topics including active shooters, vehicle ramming, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), unmanned aerial systems (UASs), and more. CISA works with partners to design and conduct exercises that range from small-scale, discussion-based exercises to large-scale, operations-based exercises. CISA is placing a focus on working with the K-12 education sector to help raise awareness and understanding of the risks as well as to change behaviors that put us at risk of phishing and other online attacks. Learn about important initiatives that support and protect our vital critical infrastructure systems.

News and Alerts

Although critical infrastructure is similar across all nations due to basic living needs, the infrastructure considered critical can vary according to a nation’s unique needs, resources and level of development. Across every sector vital to our prosperity—energy, transportation, communications, defense, and beyond—America’s critical infrastructure is being strengthened and renewed. With the support of the First Lady, who champions efforts to prepare students and workers for this new technological era, we are ushering in a new era of American ingenuity and leadership. We are also rapidly developing next-generation AI data centers and modernizing our electrical grids and communications networks to power and connect this unprecedented buildout. By reasserting our energy dominance, we are rebuilding our supply chains, strengthening our industrial base, and fortifying the critical infrastructure that keeps our country safe, all while lowering costs and creating good-paying jobs for Americans. During Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month, we recommit to making America’s systems and networks powerful, modern, and more resilient than ever before.

Cybersecurity in Critical Infrastructure Best Practices

Using a compromised password, the hackers took down the largest fuel pipeline in the U.S., leading to shortages across the East Coast. In May 2021, cybercriminals breached the Colonial Pipeline Co., which controls nearly half the gasoline, jet fuel and diesel flowing along the East Coast. They have the potential to create wide-scale compromise in vital systems, such as transportation, oil and gas supply, electrical grids, water distribution, and wastewater collection. Critical infrastructure often encompasses industrial control systems (ICS), including supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, which are used to automate industrial processes in critical infrastructure industries. In the U.S., this physical and cyber infrastructure is typically owned and operated by the private sector, though some is owned by federal, state or local governments.

What critical infrastructure organizations should do in 2026-2027

This is where cloud security engineering, SOC analyst development, SOC manager progression, and cybersecurity manager pathways all intersect with infrastructure reality. Vendor and third-party remote access is still too broad, too trusted, or too hard to monitor properly That is why defenders need to connect PAM strategies, SIEM design, incident response execution, DLP strategies, and the next generation of cybersecurity standards into one operating model. IT may detect the intrusion while OT understands https://e-beginner.net/category/cybersecurity-fundamentals/ the consequence, but if those teams still escalate through different clocks, attackers get more time than they deserve. You cannot protect assets you do not know about, and passive OT discovery remains stronger than assumptions.

Verizon’s 2025 DBIR says third-party involvement in breaches doubled to 30% and exploitation of vulnerabilities surged by 34%. IBM’s 2024 industrial-sector analysis says the average total cost of a data breach in the industrial sector was USD 5.56 million, an 18% increase from 2023. That matters https://lifestyll.net/what-are-exciting-hobbies-for-tech-enthusiasts/ because critical infrastructure attackers increasingly win through interconnectedness, not pure technical brilliance. Fortinet’s 2025 OT research says the traditional IT/OT air gap is largely gone, and organizations with higher OT maturity report fewer incidents and faster recovery. CISA’s cross-sector guidance is explicit that baseline cyber practices with known risk-reduction value should apply broadly across critical infrastructure.

CISA provides guidance to support state, local, and industry partners in identifying critical infrastructure needed to maintain the functions Americans depend on daily.

• CISA is placing a focus on working with the K-12 education sector to help raise awareness and understanding of the risks as well as to change behaviors that put us at risk of phishing and other online attacks.
• We still lack a complete picture of our exposed assets, inherited software risk, and weak identity paths
• The second mistake is treating disruption risk as secondary to data risk.
• CISA’s resilience resources and infrastructure planning playbook reinforce that resilience is not only prevention; it is also the ability to execute through disruption.

Critical Infrastructure Exercises

Our Nation’s critical infrastructure is foundational to every American’s way of life—protecting our national security, facilitating our economic stability, and ensuring our public safety. Activities focus on testing, evaluating, and validating the impacts on select, prioritized CI, including 5G infrastructure, to provide industry with actionable, timely information to protect systems prior to buildout of new infrastructure. Other electronic capabilities with critical infrastructure ecosystems are susceptible to attacks or natural occurrences of electromagnetic pulses (EMP) and geomagnetic disturbances (GMD). The use of GPS for position, navigation, and timing (PNT) is essential for critical infrastructure such as the electric grid, telecommunications, transportation, and emergency services.

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CISA provides guidance to support state, local, and industry partners in identifying the critical infrastructure sectors and the essential workers needed to maintain the services and functions Americans depend on daily. It will be the one that narrows attack paths, shrinks trust, recovers fast, and proves that resilience under stress. The third trend is that the premium cybersecurity skill in this space will be operationally literate defense.