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Dale Wuokko, P.E.
Critical infrastructure includes systems and assets so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination of those matters. Critical infrastructure is addressed, in part, by engineering disciplines, including civil, electrical, mechanical, industrial, hydrological, environmental, computer, nuclear, and others. Tunnels serving as the primary conduit for transportation, water, electric communications, electrical power lines, and natural gas lines; bridges; dams; water treatment plants; electric power generating plants; supply lines bringing power, communications, food, and water to a community; hospitals; and financial services underpinning our economic system are all examples of critical infrastructure.
Todays risk environment affecting critical infrastructure is complex and uncertain with threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences having evolved over the last 20 years. Critical infrastructure that has long been subject to risks associated with physical threats and natural disasters is now increasingly exposed to cyber risks due to the integration of information and communication technologies with critical infrastructure operations, and adversaries world-wide focused on exploiting cyber vulnerabilities.
For example, in early 2001, for at least 17 days a cyberattack was targeted against the California Independent System Operator computer system that controlled the transfer of electricity throughout California on its vast electrical power grid. In 2016 it was reported that a water treatment plant experienced a cyberattack when cyber intruders managed to remotely manipulate the amount of chemicals that went into the water supply and adversely impact water treatment and production capabilities such that the recovery time to replenish water supplies increased. In March 2019, a Utah-based renewable energy provider experienced a denial-of-service (DOS) cyberattack that temporarily resulted in the grids control center experiencing intermittent signal interruptions and lost connections with its solar and wind generating facilities at a dozen sites in California, Wyoming, and Utah totaling 500 megawatts. Also in March 2019, a former employee of the Post Rock Rural Water District in Kansas remotely accessed its water treatment plants computer system and performed malicious actions that halted the processes at the plant impacting the cleaning and disinfecting operations. A May 2021, cyberattack on the 5,500-mile-long U.S. Colonial Pipeline led to the company temporarily shutting down its system that delivers about 45% of the gasoline consumed on the East Coast.
Moreover, critical infrastructure is also susceptible to physical threats. In December 2022, a shooting attack was carried out on two Duke Energy electrical distribution substations located in Moore County, North Carolina. The damage from the attack left about 45,000 residential and business customers without electrical power and resulted in the death of one woman who relied on an electrical-powered oxygen machine. A study by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has concluded that coordinated physical attacks on only nine key U.S. interconnected electric transmission substations on a hot summer day while the electrical grid is under a strained load demand could cause a coast-to-coast blackout lasting months.
This course presents the U.S. National Infrastructure Protection Plan describing a national collaborative effort between all levels of government and private and non-profit sectors to achieve critical infrastructure security and resilience.
This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.
NY PE & PLS: You must choose courses that are technical in nature or related to matters of laws and ethics contributing to the health and welfare of the public. NY Board does not accept courses related to office management, risk management, leadership, marketing, accounting, financial planning, real estate, and basic CAD. Specific course topics that are on the borderline and are not acceptable by the NY Board have been noted under the course description on our website.