Lives on the Line: Hidden Risks in Critical National Infrastructure

This report advocates External Attack Surface Management (EASM) for Critical National Infrastructure, outlining how forgotten or misconfigured Internet-facing assets (e.g., HMIs, industrial protocols, staging environments, and exposed remote access) can undermine Purdue-model protections. It emphasizes continuous discovery and attribution, contextual mapping to Purdue levels, monitoring for ICS-specific exposures, attack-path analysis to validate firewall assumptions, and integration of EASM with SOC, vulnerability management, and OT/IT workflows to reduce CNI risk.