Cyber attack against a CBRNe infrastructure
Cyber attacks are malicious events that compromise the availability, reliability and confidentiality of data. A cyber attack on a CBRNe infrastructure can disrupt both its digital and physical functioning.
A CBRNe installation is one where CBRN substances are handled or stored. CBRNe stands for chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear substances, possibly combined with explosives. Examples of CBRNe installations include Seveso installations, nuclear facilities or biological laboratories.
Risks and causes
Consequences
What can you do?
The right reflexes to take in the event of a cyber attack on a CBRNe installation depend on the impact. Check our advice in the event of
- Release of biological substances
- Release of chemicals
- Release of nuclear substances
- Release of radiological substances
- Explosion of explosive substances
Highly specific directives apply to Seveso installations and nuclear facilities:
- Incident at a Seveso installation
- Incident at a nuclear facility
Impact and probability
The figures relating to probability and impact describe a extreme cyber attack against a CBRNe infrastructure. The BNRA theoretically describes such a scenario as follows:
- The IT infrastructure is offline or unavailable for more than a week.
- Malicious actors can have various motives for their actions: money (via ransomware, for example), paralysing a business and causing disruption, harming consumers, and so on.
How should you interpret these results?
Within the BNRA, experts assessed three scenarios for each risk: considerable, major or extreme. On each page, you will find the results of the scenario with the highest score based on the combination of likelihood and impact. This does not mean that this scenario will occur or is the most likely. Read more here about how to correctly interpret the results.
Probability
Moderate
Human impact
Very weak
Societal impact
Very weak
Environmental impact
Very weak
Financial impact
Very weak
What do the authorities do?
The Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) is the national authority responsible for cybersecurity in Belgium. It supervises, coordinates and monitors the application of the Belgian cybersecurity strategy. Through optimal information exchange, companies, the government, providers of essential services and the population can protect themselves appropriately.
A national cyber emergency plan has been drawn up to manage cyber security incidents and crises at national level. To this end, the National Crisis Center works together with the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium and other public partners. These partners can therefore coordinate their approaches, to protect our country's essential sectors against cyber attacks.
A CBRNe centre of expertise was set up within the National Crisis Center in 2018. It helps partners to make CBRNe emergency plans operational, offers support in crisis management, and participates in training for intervention services.
A CBRNe incident always requires multidisciplinary management and/or coordination at national level. Depending on the nature of the incident, different emergency plans can be triggered in the event of a CBRNe risk, for example the nuclear and radiological emergency plan or the CBRNe terrorism emergency plan.