What is Cyber Physical Security?

Cyber-Physical Security

Cyber-Physical Security (CPS) defends integrated systems that control physical processes using digital components (Cyber-Physical Systems). Unlike traditional IT security, CPS protects real-world safety and operational continuity, making it vital for critical infrastructure (e.g., power grids, utilities, transportation). 

CPS must mitigate risks from vast, often poorly secured, IoT networks. Effective CPS requires an integrated strategy to monitor IT and specialized Operational Technology (OT) systems, prioritizing immediate threat detection and response to prevent physical damage or operational shutdowns.

Why is Cyber-Physical Security Important?

Cyber-Physical Security is essential as it defends the intersection of digital threats and physical consequences. In our connected world, failure to secure critical infrastructure and industrial systems risks power outages, environmental disasters, compromised patient safety, and the complete shutdown of essential services. CPS is the indispensable defense layer preserving safety, business continuity, and national stability.

Examples of Cyber Physical Threats

• Ransomware on Industrial and OT Systems: Attacks often target the specialized software (HMI/SCADA) that controls physical processes. Unlike typical IT ransomware that encrypts data, industrial ransomware can halt production, seize control of machinery, or trigger physical damage until a ransom is paid, directly impacting operational continuity and safety.

• Compromised Industrial Control Systems (ICS): This involves directly manipulating the core systems that regulate physical processes (e.g., flow rates, pressure, temperatures). Attackers can compromise systems like PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) to deliberately cause equipment failure, trigger explosions, or inject false sensor readings to mask malicious activity.

• IoT Device Breaches: The vast network of connected devices (from smart building sensors to medical equipment) often uses weak security protocols. Breaching a single, low-security IoT device can serve as a backdoor to access the internal OT network, allowing attackers to pivot and launch attacks against critical control systems.

• Supply Chain Attacks (Software & Hardware): Threat actors insert malware or malicious code into hardware components or legitimate software updates used by vendors of industrial and OT equipment. This allows the attacker to gain persistent, concealed access to the CPS before the system is even deployed, posing a severe threat to trust and integrity.

Challenges in Cyber-Physical Security

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) face distinct and complex security challenges that traditional IT security models struggle to address. The following sections outline the core reasons why securing these interconnected environments—from critical infrastructure to manufacturing facilities—is uniquely difficult.

1. Complexity of Interconnected Systems

Modern critical infrastructure and manufacturing facilities combine legacy Operational Technology (OT) with new IT, sensors, and remote access. This system complexity creates diverse, interconnected systems lacking uniformity, making a complete asset inventory and managing vulnerabilities extremely difficult, leading to blind spots.

2. The Threat of Physical-Impact Attacks

Attackers target Cyber-Physical Systems to cause physical disruption, damage, or safety hazards, not just data theft. They leverage cyber attacks (e.g., malware, zero-days) to trigger physical actions, like shutting down a power plant, causing factory equipment failure, or manipulating connected medical device data.

3. Lack of Standardized Frameworks (Especially for IoT)

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and connected devices use diverse, proprietary protocols and OS, often shipping with weak defaults or lacking security updates. This lack of universal security standards prevents a single security framework for the entire CPS ecosystem, forcing individual device security.

4. Constraints of IoT and OT Devices

Many Operational Technology (OT) and IoT devices are deployed in remote, harsh environments and have limited resources (low memory, CPU power). These constraints prevent the use of conventional IT security software (like full antivirus or robust firewalls) and make regular patching and updating extremely challenging, as maintenance windows are rare and downtime must be avoided to ensure operational safety.

Emerging Trends in Cyber-Physical Security

A modern security approach is required to address the integration of cyber and physical worlds, moving past traditional boundaries. This evolution centers on three critical areas: AI-Driven Threat Detection for instant anomaly neutralization; the Convergence of IT and OT Security for a unified, enterprise-wide defense; and Zero Trust for Cyber and Physical Worlds to enforce granular access control by removing implicit trust.

1. AI-Driven Threat Detection

AI-driven threat detection uses machine learning to analyze IT/OT data streams, overcoming the limits of traditional rule-based security. By establishing baselines of normal behavior, it instantly identifies subtle anomalies—like unusual sensor readings or communication patterns—to detect sophisticated attacks before physical damage occurs.

2. Convergence of IT and OT Security

The merging of physical and digital worlds is ending the “air gap.” IT/OT convergence unifies security policies, platforms, and teams, breaking down organizational silos. This unified approach provides end-to-end visibility and a single security framework across the enterprise—from IT (corporate server) to OT (factory floor)—streamlining risk management and accelerating response times.

3. Zero Trust for Cyber and Physical Worlds

Zero Trust, or “never trust, always verify,” removes implicit trust for all users, devices, or network components, even within the physical facility. Security is enforced at every access point, requiring continuous authentication and granular access policies for digital and physical actions. This limits lateral movement and compromise of critical control systems.

Dataminr’s Cyber-Physical Security Solution

Dataminr provides AI-powered real-time event, threat, and risk intelligence for both the physical and cyber worlds. Thanks to the amount and breadth of data the platform ingests (over 43TB/day of text, audio, video, imagery, sensor data, and more in 150+ languages from both public sources and the dark web) and the organization’s deep expertise, it is able to correlate events in the cyber and physical worlds in ways that other platforms can not. 
Organizations should constantly evaluate their cyber-physical security posture – regardless of the industry they’re in. Try answering these 8 questions to assess your readiness.

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