Critical Infrastructure Security Is Hanging by a Thread. Here’s the Lifeline.

Trevor Dearing,?Director of Critical Infrastructure Solutions

Something is happening beneath the waves of the Baltic Sea — and it has NATO on high alert. ?

In the last few months, the alliance launched the Baltic Sentry mission, deploying naval forces to guard one of the world’s most critical and vulnerable infrastructures: undersea cables. ?

Over 95% of the world’s internet traffic flows through these cables. Cut one, and you don’t just slow down internet speeds — you disrupt economies, cripple communications, and throw entire industries into chaos.

It’s a wake-up call for the cyber industry.

Our modern world runs on an invisible network of interconnected systems: energy grids, financial networks, healthcare, transportation. An attack could set off a domino effect of failures across industries and borders.

A single disruption in the wrong place at the wrong time could be catastrophic — under the sea or in our critical infrastructure networks.

The looming threat of systemic cyberattacks

Cyber threats have evolved. We’re no longer talking about isolated attacks on individual businesses. We’re looking at massive, systemic cyber events — attacks that ripple across industries, bringing down entire sectors, even whole economies.

Think about it. A ransomware attack on a hospital isn’t just an IT problem. It delays surgeries and puts lives at risk. A cyber hit on a major bank could freeze financial transactions for millions. A breach in a supply chain network means shelves going empty, factories grinding to a halt, and global commerce taking a hit.

In a recent LinkedIn post, Tahir Soomro, senior manager of cyber response services at KPMG, highlighted a 20-year-old Dutch study, Protecting a Nation's Critical Infrastructure: The First Steps, that mapped out how interdependent industries are and what happens when one fails.

The results? A cyberattack doesn’t just cause power outages or banking hiccups. It can cut off access to food, clean water, and medical care. ?

And this was before the explosion of cloud computing, IoT, and AI-driven automation. Today, the risks have multiplied exponentially.

Traditional cyber can’t secure critical infrastructure

The problem is that many critical infrastructure organizations still approach cybersecurity like it’s the 1990s. They’re relying on outdated, perimeter-based security models that assume if you keep attackers out, you’re safe. ?

That approach doesn’t work anymore.

Attackers don’t need to bust down the front door. They find a single weak point — a vulnerable vendor, an exposed API, a compromised employee’s login — and they’re in. From there, they move laterally, quietly escalating privileges and spreading throughout the network before anyone notices.

We’ve seen it play out again and again. The SolarWinds breach showed how a software supply chain attack can impact thousands of organizations worldwide. The Colonial Pipeline attack disrupted fuel supplies across the U.S. ?

And these are just the headline-grabbing cases. Countless other incidents are unfolding every day, often unnoticed until the damage is done.

Zero Trust: the only way to secure critical infrastructure

This is why Zero Trust is the answer to the complexities of modern cybersecurity, especially in critical infrastructure. ?

Instead of assuming everything inside a network is safe, Zero Trust assumes nothing is safe. Every workload, every app, every user must prove they belong — every single time.

Zero Trust enforces strict access controls, keeps users and devices in their own lanes, and prevents lateral movement. That means even if an attacker gets in, they can’t move freely, can’t escalate privileges, and can’t turn a small breach into a catastrophic event.

But Zero Trust isn’t just a cybersecurity model. It’s a mindset shift that’s crucial for critical infrastructure. It acknowledges that today’s threats don’t respect industry boundaries or company size. Every sector, from finance, energy, and healthcare to transportation, telecoms, and governments, must treat security as a shared responsibility. Because a failure in one system can have devastating consequences across the board.

There are no second chances for critical infrastructure

NATO’s Baltic Sentry mission is a clear sign that governments are starting to take physical infrastructure security seriously. But cybersecurity needs the same level of urgency.

We’re not prepared for a large-scale systemic cyber event. And when — not if — it happens, the fallout will be massive. ?

Governments and businesses need to move from a reactive stance to a proactive one. That means embracing Zero Trust, enforcing strict access controls, and segmenting critical assets.

This isn’t about stopping every single attack. That’s impossible. It’s about making sure that when an attack happens, it doesn’t spread. It doesn’t take down an entire industry. It doesn’t turn into a global crisis.

We don’t get a second chance when it comes to protecting critical infrastructure. The time to act is now before a cyber event forces our hand. ?