Critical infrastructure (or critical national infrastructure (CNI) in the UK) is a term used by

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

s to describe

assets In financial accountancy, financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. It is anything (tangible or intangible) that can be used to produce positive economic value. Assets represent value ...

that are essential for the functioning of a society and economy – the

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

. Most commonly associated with the term are facilities for: *

Shelter Shelter is a small building giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger. Shelter may also refer to: Places * Port Shelter, Hong Kong * Shelter Bay (disambiguation), various locations * Shelter Cove (disambiguation), various locatio ...

;

Heating A central heating system provides warmth to a number of spaces within a building from one main source of heat. It is a component of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (short: HVAC) systems, which can both cool and warm interior spaces. ...

(e.g.

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks or teleheating) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating a ...

); *

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

, food production and distribution; *

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

, skills development and technology transfer / basic subsistence and unemployment rate statistics; *

Water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...

(drinking water, waste water/sewage, stemming of surface water (e.g. dikes and sluices)); *

Public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

(hospitals, ambulances); *

Transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...

systems (fuel supply, railway network, airports, harbours, inland shipping); * Security services (police, military). *

Electricity generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For electric utility, utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its Electricity delivery, delivery (Electric power transmi ...

, transmission and distribution; (e.g.

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

) **

Renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

, which are naturally replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat. *

Telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

; coordination for successful operations *

Economic sector One classical breakdown of economic activity distinguishes three sectors: * Primary: involves the retrieval and production of raw-material commodities, such as corn, coal, wood or iron. Miners, farmers and fishermen are all workers in the ...

;

Goods and services Goods are items that are usually (but not always) tangible, such as pens, physical books, salt, apples, and hats. Services are activities provided by other people, who include architects, suppliers, contractors, technologists, teachers, doctor ...

and

financial services Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...

(banking, clearing);

Regional critical infrastructure protection programmes

Canada

The Canadian Federal Government identifies the following 10 Critical Infrastructure Sectors as a way to classify essential assets. # Energy & Utilities: Electricity providers; off-shore/on-shore oil & gas; coal supplies, natural gas providers; home fuel oil; gas station supplies; alternative energy suppliers (wind, solar, other) # Information and Communication Technology: Broadcast Media; telecommunication providers (landlines, cell phones, internet, wifi); Postal services; # Finance: Banking services, government finance/aid departments; taxation # Health: Public health & wellness programs, hospital/clinic facilities; blood & blood products # Food: Food supply chains; food inspectors; import/export programs; grocery stores; Agri & Acqua culture; farmers markets # Water: Water supply & protection; wastewater management; fisheries & ocean protection programs # Transportation: Roads, bridges, railways, aviation/airports; shipping & ports; transit # Safety: Emergency responders; public safety programs # Government: Military; Continuity of governance # Manufacturing: Industry, economic development

European Union

The European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection ( EPCIP) has been laid out in EU Directives by the Commission (EU COM(2006) 786 final). It has proposed a list of European critical infrastructures based upon inputs by its member states. Each designated European Critical Infrastructures (ECI) will have to have an Operator Security Plan (OSP) covering the identification of important assets, a risk analysis based on major threat scenarios and the vulnerability of each asset, and the identification, selection and prioritisation of counter-measures and procedures.

Germany

The German critical-infrastructure protection programme KRITIS is coordinated by the

Federal Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

. Some of its special agencies like the

German Federal Office for Information Security The Federal Office for Information Security (german: Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik, abbreviated as BSI) is the Germany, German upper-level Federal agency (Germany), federal agency in charge of managing computer and commun ...

or the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance BBK deliver the respective content, e.g., about

IT systems Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of Data (computing), data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information te ...

Singapore

In Singapore, critical infrastructures are mandated under the Protected Areas and Protected Places Act. In 2017, the Infrastructure Protection Act was passed in Parliament, which provides for the protection of certain areas, places and other premises in Singapore against security risks. It came into force in 2018.

United Kingdom

In the UK, the

Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure The Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) is the United Kingdom government authority which provides protective security advice to businesses and organisations across the national infrastructure. Their advice aims to reduc ...

(CPNI) provides information, personnel and physical security advice to the businesses and organizations which make up the UK's national infrastructure, helping to reduce its vulnerability to terrorism and other threats. It can call on resources from other government departments and agencies, including

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

, the Communications-Electronics Security Group and other government departments responsible for national infrastructure sectors.

United States

The USA has had a wide-reaching

critical infrastructure protection Critical infrastructure protection (CIP) is a concept that relates to the preparedness and response to serious incidents that involve the critical infrastructure of a region or nation. The American Presidential directive PDD-63 of May 1998 set up ...

program in place since 1996. Its

Patriot Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropr ...

of 2001 defined critical infrastructure as those "systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination of those matters." In 2014 the

NIST Cybersecurity Framework NIST Cybersecurity Framework is a set of guidelines for mitigating organizational cybersecurity risks, published by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) based on existing standards, guidelines, and practices. The framewor ...

was published, and quickly became a popular set of guidelines, despite the significant costs of full compliance. These have identified a number of critical infrastructures and responsible agencies: # Agriculture and food – Departments of

and

Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is " ...

Water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

–

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

# Public Health – Department of Health and Human Services # Emergency Services –

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

# Government – Department of Homeland Security #

Defense Industrial Base The term defense industrial base (or DIB), also known as the defense industrial and technological base, is used in political science to refer to a government's industrial assets that are of direct or indirect importance for the production of equip ...

–

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

Information Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random ...

and

Telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

–

Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bu ...

Energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...

–

Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-rel ...

Transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...

ation and

Shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting Commodity, commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it h ...

– Department of Transportation #

Banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

and

Finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

– Department of the Treasury #

Chemical Industry The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials (oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into more than 70,000 different products. The ...

and

Hazardous Material Dangerous goods, abbreviated DG, are substances that when transported are a risk to health, safety, property or the environment. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials ( syllabi ...

s – Department of Homeland Security #

Post Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service **Iraqi Post, Ira ...

– Department of Homeland Security # National monuments and icons -

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...

# Critical manufacturing - Department of Homeland Security (14th sector announced March 3, 2008; recorded April 30, 2008)

National Infrastructure Protection Plan

The National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) defines critical infrastructure sector in the US. Presidential Policy Directive 21 (PPD-21), issued in February 2013 entitled Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience mandated an update to the NIPP. This revision of the plan established the following 16 critical infrastructure sectors: # Chemical # Commercial facilities # Communications # Critical manufacturing # Dams # Defense industrial base # Emergency services # Energy # Financial services # Food and agriculture # Government facilities # Healthcare and public health # Information technology # Nuclear reactors, materials, and waste # Transportation systems # Water and wastewater systems National Monuments and Icons along with the postal and shipping sector were removed in 2013 update to the NIPP. The 2013 version of the NIPP has faced criticism for lacking viable risk measures. The plan assigns the following agencies sector-specific coordination responsibilities: ;

* Chemical * Commercial facilities * Communications * Critical manufacturing * Dams * Emergency services * Government facilities (jointly with General Services Administration) * Information technology * Nuclear reactors, materials, and waste * Transportation systems (jointly with Department of Transportation) ; Department of Defense * Defense industrial base ; Department of Energy * Energy ; Department of the Treasury * Financial services ; Department of Agriculture * Food and agriculture ; General Services Administration * Government facilities (jointly with Department of Homeland Security) ; Department of Health and Human Services * Healthcare and Public Health ; Department of Transportation * Transportation systems (jointly with Department of Homeland Security) ; Environmental Protection Agency * Water and wastewater systems

State-level legislation

Several U.S. states have passed "critical infrastructure" bills, promoted by the

American Legislative Exchange Council The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model legislation for distribution among state governments in the United State ...

(ALEC), to criminalize protests against the

fossil fuel industry A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels ma ...

. In May 2017, Oklahoma passed legislation which created

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

penalties for

trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding ...

ing on land considered critical infrastructure, including oil and gas pipelines, or conspiring to do so; ALEC introduced a version of the bill as a

model act A model act, also called a model law or a piece of model legislation, is a suggested example for a law, drafted centrally to be disseminated and suggested for enactment in multiple independent legislatures. The motivation classically has been the ...

and encouraged other states to adopt it. In June 2020, West Virginia passed the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act, which created

penalties for protests against oil and gas facilities.

References

External links

Infracritical: comparison of US and international definitions of infrastructure
{{Authority control United States Department of Homeland Security Infrastructure National security