Improving the Cybersecurity of Critical National Infrastructure using Modelling and Simulation

Abstract: The UK Critical National Infrastructure is critically dependent on digital technologies that provide communications, monitoring, control, and decision-support functionalities. Digital technologies are progressively enhancing efficiency, reliability, and availability of infrastructure, and enabling new benefits not previously available. These benefits can introduce vulnerabilities through the connectivity enabled by the digital systems, thus, making it easier for would-be attackers, who frequently use socio-technical approaches, exploiting humans-in-the-loop to break in and sabotage an organization. Therefore, policies and strategies that minimize and manage risks must include an understanding of operator and corporate behaviors, as well as technical elements and the interfaces between them and humans. Better security via socio-technical security Modelling and Simulation can be achieved if backed by government effort, including appropriate policy interventions. Government, through its departments and agencies, can contribute by sign-posting and shaping the decision-making environment concerning cybersecurity M&S approaches and tools, showing how they can contribute to enhancing security in Modern Critical Infrastructure Systems.