How Cybersecurity Supports Sustainability
Sustainability is crucial to reverse the negative impact of climate change on the environment. Various networks, such as smart grids and water systems, enhance sustainability and must be resistant to cyberattacks. By protecting these tools, cybersecurity can help support eco-friendliness and the systems that work toward this goal.
Environmental Efforts that Rely on Cybersecurity
Plenty of devices exist to aid sustainability. Smart grids optimize energy use by receiving energy from providers and distributing it among connected systems. IoT devices collect data and solve waste problems.
Renewable energy sources, such as solar panels and wind turbines, reduce reliance on nonrenewable energy and minimize unnecessary pollution. Digital health platforms eliminate excessive paper use. Tools that track carbon emissions provide data to reduce them.
All of these systems are vulnerable to cyberattacks due to their online networks. Cybersecurity protects them from malicious infiltration, keeps the data intact and lessens disruptions.
Ways Cybersecurity is Important for Sustainability
Sustainability contributes to the livelihood of all living things currently suffering under climate change. In many ways, cybersecurity practices can protect systems that support a greener future.
Monitors Constantly
Attacks are fast and often undetectable for long periods. On average, it takes system monitors around 178 days to notice a data breach. That is a lot of time for attackers to cause severe damage.
The operations completed during that time are likely to be contaminated, which disrupts the entire network. Cybersecurity can detect attacks earlier by constantly monitoring systems for irregular commands or strange data transfers.
Protects Network Tampering
Many sustainable systems share data across networks to ensure they are running optimally for sustainability. Attackers see these structures as weaknesses and attempt to exploit them. Cybersecurity encrypts the programs to make them less vulnerable to attackers. Without tampering, they avoid disruptions that cost money and produce unnecessary waste.
Avoids Contamination Risk
Cyberattackers target sustainability systems that manage water, waste, energy, food production, and other critical areas. If a hacker infiltrates them, they could disrupt the water flow and contaminate drinking water, as seen in incidents linked to Chinese, Russian, and Iranian hackers in 2024.
Wasted resources would decrease any sustainability efforts previously utilized. Cybersecurity detects threats before they occur, keeping products safe and secure for use. If it cannot save entire batches, it can at least reduce the amount of ruined goods.
Reduces Energy Waste
Cyberattackers place viruses on computers connected to sustainable infrastructure to hijack it. As long as these programs continue to run, they waste a significant amount of energy. Cybersecurity efforts aim to disable these devices, whether remotely or physically, to eliminate wasted resources and redirect them toward sustainability efforts.
Defends Against Cyberattacks
When hackers meddle with sustainable systems, they ruin user trust, deterring them from using environmentally conscious methods again. Cybersecurity practices help maintain trust by saving systems from attacks and limiting the harmful effects if one does occur. Thanks to these efforts, more people will be able to use eco-friendly devices.
Examples of Cybersecurity in Sustainability
Below are some real-world examples of cybersecurity efforts in sustainable technology.
Water Systems
Water is one of the most essential resources. As systems are automated to enhance sustainability, they can become prime targets for cyberattackers. When attackers gain control of the interface, they often demand a high ransom to return control to the organization. To avoid stress and financial loss, organizations must embed cybersecurity protocols into water systems’ structures to create barriers for attackers and to send alerts to necessary stakeholders. Lost water creates a plethora of problems almost immediately.
Smart Grids
Smart grids adopt eco-friendly habits and transition to renewable energy sources. If a hacker gains access to a smart grid, they could compromise its energy-saving efforts and increase energy consumption. The time it would take to get the smart grid system back up and running smoothly would significantly undermine sustainability efforts.
IoT Devices
Internet of Things (IoT) devices track data to manage waste. As many landfills are nearing capacity and waste production remains high, IoT devices can aid sustainability efforts. They track bins and automate tasks to keep operations running as efficiently as possible. When an attacker infiltrates the system, they can skew the data and create more waste than before the device was installed.
Challenges When Utilizing Cybersecurity
While there are numerous benefits to using cybersecurity practices to enhance sustainability, challenges persist in its implementation. Cyberattacks evolve, continually changing tactics and becoming increasingly sophisticated.
This can make it challenging for security protocols to keep up. The regulations currently in place to limit cyberattacks are not specific enough to create a well-prepared digital security system. Even when applied, they might not adequately protect the sustainability equipment.
Many people do not understand the bridge between cybersecurity and sustainability, so the need for them to come together often goes unnoticed. If a security device fails and attacks occur, companies and consumers might lose faith in cybersecurity efforts.
It can be difficult for small organizations to achieve cybersecurity. Sustainable alternatives and the security to protect them can be expensive. Hacking is a complex, evolving occurrence that is difficult to prevent and counter without the necessary expertise or resources.
Sustainability and Cybersecurity
While an unlikely duo, cybersecurity and sustainability work together to make a more environmentally conscious world. Understanding their connection and taking action to implement both reduces a sustainability system’s vulnerability to cyberattacks.