Perceiving Critical Infrastructure with A New Awareness of Cyber Risk

North America’s critical infrastructure has been the subject of cyber-attack, in various cycles of activity, for many years. In March of 2017, a cyber-attack caused periodic ‘‘blind-spots” for electricity distribution grid operators in the Western US for about 10 dangerous hours. In May of this year, there was panic at the gas pumps across many States in southeastern United States, which has been attributed to a cyber-attack on a major US pipeline that disrupted fuel supplies to the US East coast. US Commerce Secretary Raimondo soon after that attack announced that those sorts of attacks are becoming more frequent and that combating such attacks against critical infrastructure is a ‘‘top priority” of the Biden Administration. At home, the Canadian Center for Cyber Security’s 2020 Report on ‘‘National Cyber Threat Assessment” warned that foreign provocateurs ‘‘are very likely attempting to develop cyber capabilities to disrupt Canadian critical infrastructure.” On March 11, 2021, the Trade Commissioner Service of Canada stated, in its report ‘‘Spotlight on Cybersecurity,” that ‘‘Attacks on critical infrastructure have become a growing cause of concern for governments and provide sector providers around the world. . .the increase of inter-facing networks has led to an increase in the number of cyber-attacks (on those) infrastructures.