Critical Infrastructure Security and Why It's Important 

The critical infrastructure industry is up against a lot of threats. 

Power providers in the U.S. reported 185 physical attacks or threats against critical grid infrastructure in 2023, a new record that beat the previous high set the year before. The Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC) has tracked a large and consistent increase in reported physical security incidents every year since it started publishing data in 2016. Their 2025 end-of-year report cited more than 3,500 physical security breaches that calendar year, about 3% of which disrupted electricity. 

But the electric grid is just one piece of it. More than two in five ransomware attacks reported to the FBI in 2023 targeted organizations in a critical infrastructure sector. Of the 2,825 ransomware attacks reported that year, 1,193 hit critical infrastructure organizations, and losses from those attacks jumped 74% to nearly $60 million. The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security found that roughly 70% of all cyberattacks in 2024 involved critical infrastructure. 

Crime Threatens More Than Just Property

When one critical infrastructure facility is compromised, entire communities feel the effects. Restaurants lose refrigerators full of food. Families lose heating or cooling, sometimes during extreme weather. Traffic signals go dark and intersections back up. The people and businesses relying on the critical service may not know exactly what happened, but they know it failed and that’s enough to break their trust.

Disruptions can also raise hard questions from regulators, municipalities, and internal leadership. What happened? How long was the site exposed? Were reasonable security measures in place? Could the incident have been detected earlier? Those questions can lead to audits, reporting requirements, and insurance complications.

What Makes Critical Infrastructure Sites Hard to Secure

Location

Critical infrastructure sites often must be located in remote areas. Facilities like substations and water treatment plants, for example, require distance from dense population centers for safety reasons. They’re out of the way and isolated, and isolation creates opportunity. It’s easy for criminals to sneak onto a remote site, steal valuable materials, and disappear with no consequences because no one was around to spot them. 

Scale

Most utility providers don’t operate from one small facility; they manage networks of substations, treatment facilities, storage yards, and access points across cities and counties. Ensuring consistent coverage across so many sites can be a challenge. A small security team can’t be everywhere at once, and routine inspections only show one person what’s happening during the few minutes they’re physically on site. If something goes wrong between visits, teams may not know until equipment goes missing or fails and service is interrupted. 

Visibility 

Unlike urban, densely-populated environments, remote infrastructure sites don't benefit from ambient lighting or regular foot traffic that might deter or expose criminal activity. Vegetation around remote sites can be a lot to manage, and when it isn’t managed, it creates blind spots. Weather is also a part of the equation. Heavy rain or wind may make it hard for personnel to monitor sites physically, and can wipe out security technology that isn’t built for harsh conditions. 

Limited Infrastructure

Many fixed outdoor security cameras need power hookups and network connectivity. But at remote sites, that infrastructure doesn't always exist. Running conduit and pulling wire out to a facility at the edge of a service territory is expensive—or sometimes completely impossible. That leaves operators with a choice between investing heavily in infrastructure buildout just to support a security system or accepting that certain sites will have limited coverage. Neither option is good. 

The Ingredients of Effective Critical Infrastructure Security

Self-Powered Equipment

Any security system deployed at a remote site should be able to run without external power. Solar-powered cameras and self-contained units with onboard power storage and backup smart generators can operate reliably at sites where running electricity to a fixed installation isn't practical. 

Cellular Connectivity

Cellular-connected security equipment streams live footage to a cloud-based platform in real time, which means a monitoring team can see what's happening at a remote site from anywhere with an internet connection. It also means alerts can be sent instantly if something goes wrong, so any potential damage can be minimized. 

AI-Powered Detection

Manual surveillance usually involves long periods of watching feeds where nothing happens at all. It’s tedious work, and all too easy to miss small suspicious moments—especially across multiple camera feeds. AI doesn't struggle to focus, no matter how painfully uneventful the feeds may be. It analyzes footage and flags anomalies for review so personnel can focus on responding instead of watching.

Active Deterrence

When critical infrastructure security systems are powered by agentic AI, they can respond to threats automatically, triggering bright lights and loudspeaker warnings the moment suspicious activity is detected without the need for a human to make the call. 

Weatherproof, Purpose-Built Hardware

Hardware deployed at critical infrastructure sites needs to be rugged enough to withstand heavy rain, extreme heat, freezing temperatures, and blowing dust without degrading or going offline. Equipment that fails in bad weather leaves sites exposed when reduced visibility makes them easiest for criminals to approach.

Secure Critical Infrastructure Sites with LVT

If you’re looking for a better way to secure your critical infrastructure site, you’ve found it 

LVT (LiveView Technologies) builds mobile security units and remote security cameras that are solar-powered, cellular-connected, and built to withstand harsh outdoor conditions. Teams can access live feeds from anywhere, any time, and AI-powered detection and deterrence ensure that no threat goes unnoticed or unaddressed.

To see how LVT helps organizations protect critical infrastructure, request a demo.