Cybersecurity for Industrial Control Systems

45

2

threats to Ics

Many of the people reading this book will be acquainted with the

concepts of threats, vulnerabilities, and risks, and how they relate to

each other. However, to be sure that we are all speaking the same

language, a review is in order. reats are either human based or natu-

ral in origin. A threat agent is the actor or active force that gener-

ates a specic threat; it could be organized crime or mother nature.

Understanding threat agents facing you and your assets is distinct

from merely understanding the threat, and enables better mitigation

strategies. Understanding the source of threats and the assets they

are directing their eorts against is a form of “intelligence” in the

cloak and dagger sense of the word. Many organ ...