COMMTEL Releases White Paper on the Impact on CNI

Commtel Networks and Critical Future, UK, have co-developed a white paper on the impact of cyber-physical security (CPS) on critical national infrastructure (CNI). It identifies the complexity of modern CNI security – the safeguarding of critical national infrastructure from physical attacks, natural disasters, and cyber threats. An original econometric model created for this paper provides a quantitative analysis of the efficiency of CNI security and the benefits it can deliver, not just to CNI companies but also to the economy as a whole. It also reveals a negative relationship between digital and economic progress.

The energy, transportation, storage, and communications industries are used as a proxy for CNI in the paper. The primary findings are that a 1 percent increase in the national cyber security index (NCSI) can result in $16.17 billion in energy investments, $12.34 billion in economic value in North America, $2 billion in the Middle East, and $890 million in India.

Shriprakash R. Pandey, CMD, Commtel, said, “Cyber-physical systems (CPS) have become an inseparable part of modern organizations. The interconnected nature of many digital technologies or critical infrastructure systems has introduced a host of new vulnerabilities. Our research with Critical Future is in the context of the biggest threats a nation today faces – an attack on its CNI and why the security of CPS is a matter of utmost importance. Through economic modelling, the white paper examines how cybersecurity directly impacts critical infrastructure, how cybersecurity can have a positive impact on CNI investments and investigates the relationship between digital growth and economic growth. The key findings in the paper imply that security improvements in modern CPS for CNI can have huge and multiple economic benefits.”

According to the paper, countries and organizations should strive to confront cyber-physical threats proactively rather than reactively. While many countries are still in the early stages of digitally transforming their infrastructures, the paper’s modeling shows that the more digitally advanced a nation/organization is, the better cybersecurity it needs to have in order to benefit from the new digital technologies it is implementing. It emphasizes the importance of controlling the complete digital and physical system from start to finish with advanced technology such as AI, which has the potential to significantly improve CPS capabilities and raise industry profitability.