Critical infrastructures are present in many sectors of the economy: banking and financial activities, transport and distribution, energy and telecommunications. In accordance with the European Union, critical infrastructures (CI) are "those goods, hardware, information technology systems, networks, services and assets whose disruption or destruction could have a major impact on health, security or economic well being of citizens or on the functioning of governments."

Currently, there is a growing interest worldwide in the development of efficient security systems to ensure the continuity of these critical infrastructures. While experts are still focusing on the physical security of these assets, a new type of threat has emerged: cybernetic threats. The emergence and spread of the Internet, together with the increasing development of information and communication technologies, especially in the last decade, have contributed to the exponential growth of virtual and intangible threats, which are not less dangerous than traditional ones.

Two years ago, the Washington Post, published an article claiming that  several hackers tried to access the British network Constellation Energy Group "hundreds of times a day." This information was confirmed by an American hacker who was interviewed by the magazine Forbes in August 2007. The attacker's testimony highlighted the fragility of the U.S. critical infrastructure by demonstrating the ease with which he had accessed the systems of a nuclear station.

More recently, the CIA released an article about the increase of attacks aimed at Critical Infrastructures, and their computer systems. In most cases, the aggressors extorted their victims, which paid millions of dollars to ensure that the incident was not made public and avoid possible damage to their reputation. On other occasions, though rare, a supply interruption has taken place (supply for which the victim company was responsible).    

Predictions are not too optimistic. According to an analysis of BCIT (Industrial Security Incident Database), the hacking community shows a progressive interest in attacking the control systems of companies providing basic services (such as widespread SCADA systems) and they are improving their technical skills in order to do so.

Companies’ failure to adapt to new threats and vulnerabilities will leave their systems exposed to increasing cyber attacks. As a result, it may cause reputation damage (the company's image could be seriously affected) and it could also cause environmental impacts on the company’s production or economy, not to mention its impact on human lives. It is therefore essential to take steps against this problem, and deploy a defence strategy with many deep layers of protection. An integral defence strategy.
    
Resistance to the new virtual threats: cybersecurity
The seriousness of cyberthreats has sparked a wave of reactions, and on many occasions, authorities have coordinated the activities of the public and the private sectors. Not surprisingly, many of the critical infrastructures of a nation are in the hands of companies that do not know the best means of identify, designing and implementing strategies on cybersecurity.

One of the keys to successfully carry out these duties ─apart form the coordination between institutions and enterprises─ is the availability of comprehensive and updated information on the new threats that affect the integrity of CI. This requires dialogue, partnership and collaboration between specialized institutions, whether at a national or (especially) at an international level.

One of the most important international organizations, the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) highlighted, on the occasion of the presentation of its 2007 General Report, the need to unite efforts within the area of cybersecurity in order to prevent a possible “digital S11.” He also stressed that one of the most successful measures to confront cybercrime is the creation of CERTs.
   
CERTs: beyond incident response
The first CERT was created in the U.S in the late 80s, and although its acronym in English (Computer Emergency Response Team) describes it as a response team against security incidents, CERTs have currently evolved to carry out all the functions required to provide an integrated security service.    

The success of these structures and the international recommendations from organizations related to the security of telecommunication networks has caused a fivefold increase in CERTs implementations during the last decade. Thus, in 2007, there were more than 70 incident response centres around the world -including CERTS of companies such as Nokia, Ericsson or Siemens.

A CERT is a team of highly qualified experts whose goal is to take on and centralize the companies’ master plans on security. As mentioned above, in addition to incident management, CERTs have evolved since their creation to provide a wide range of services aimed, not only at helping its customers to recover from an attack, but also aimed at mitigating risks and minimizing the number of responses needed in the future.

Thus, CERT also provides technical project management (firewalls, encryption), legal consultancy (for compliance with existing regulations), as well as training and education services (publication of alerts on software and hardware vulnerabilities, warnings over threats such as malicious code or suspicious or risky activities, etc.)
   
TB-Security: leader in the management of integrated security and pioneer in the creation and development of CERTs
TB•Security, Spanish leader in security management sector and in the design, implementation and operation of CERTs, developed in1997 the esCERT, the first Spanish CERT of the Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña. Later on, the company has created the CCN-CERT (Spanish governmental CERT) and the Ven-CERT, Venezuela's Telematic Emergency Response Team.  

TB•Security applies a multidisciplinary approach when dealing with security management. It offers all type of services regarding security, not only technological solutions, but also legal, communication, business or financial soultions. The company has a lot of experience in the implementation of CERTs, the Development of National Security Strategies and Critical Infrastructures Protection, which provides the company with a fundamental knowledge for the development of strategic cybersecurity projects.

The success of this type of projects is backed up by the company’s experience in the sector and its relationships with international organizations. It has participated in several joint initiatives with agencies like the Organization of American States (OAS), the aforementioned ENISA (EU) or the NCIRC (NATO’s Centre for the Coordination of CERTs).