Cyber attack against a vital infrastructure
Cyber attacks may target critical infrastructure, both digital and physical, disrupting its functioning and operations.
Critical infrastructure provides services that are essential for society to function smoothly. Examples: energy (electricity, oil, natural gas, hydrogen), transport (air, rail, sea, road and public), healthcare, banking, drinking water, wastewater, digital infrastructure, space and food.
Risks and causes
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What can you do?
There are no specific recommendations for this risk.
Check out our general advice to follow before, during, and after an emergency.
A cyber attack on a critical infrastructure can have various consequences. Check our advice in the event of
- Disruption of the natural gas supply
- Espionage incidents
- Incident at a nuclear power plant
- Disruption of the electricity supply
- Disruption to rail transport
- Disruption of medical care
- Disruption of the oil supply
Impact and probability
The figures relating to probability and impact describe an extreme cyber attack against critical infrastructure. The BNRA theoretically describes such a scenario as follows:
- There is a cyber attack against critical infrastructure that provides physical, security or comfort needs to society. The IT infrastructure is offline or unavailable for more than a week.
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
Weak
Human impact
Weak
Societal impact
Strong
Environmental impact
Very weak
Financial impact
Moderate
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.
The National Crisis Center (NCCN) coordinates the security and protection of critical infrastructure in Belgium. Depending on the threat assessment, the NCCN may take external protective measures. To this end, the NCCN works together with the police, the Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis (CUTA) and the intelligence services. Any increase in the threat level, whether from hackers, terrorists or extremists, triggers the appropriate protective measures.
At European level, there is also a significant focus on the protection and security of critical infrastructure. The EU Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2) of 14 December 2022 improves the cybersecurity and resilience of essential and important services in specific sectors within the EU. This directive has also been transposed into national legislation.