The threat of digital hacker sabotage to critical infrastructures

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the threat of digital sabotage, specifically Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, to critical infrastructures such as power plants, Intelligent Transportation Systems, airports, and similar.We compare the profile of critical infrastructure installations to known attacker profiles to establish which attackers are most likely to be a threat, thereby creating a more precise threat picture to help prioritize digital defence efforts in critical infrastructure. The main contribution of the paper is the identification of which hacker categories are most probably to attack critical infrastructures. Together with the profiles of the hacker categories this can be used for identifying appropriate countermeasures against potential attacks.