As we become more urbanised as a society and move towards creating truly smart cities, critical infrastructure becomes more interconnected and harder to secure effectively. Along with the physical threat of terrorism and natural disasters, stakeholders must counter the growing menace of cyber-based attacks. Unsecured digital systems that aren’t properly segmented represent an open invitation for cybercriminals and state-sponsored attackers to cause havoc.

Protecting critical infrastructure is made more difficult by its wide range of controllers; all these various stakeholders will have their own security priorities, preferences and operational setups to consider. An effective strategy needs all stakeholders working in concert to improve organisation- wide security, rather than shoring up individual systems. Failure to do so leaves the door open for catastrophic loss of life, as well as reputational losses, if critical infrastructure assets are compromised.