Can we develop holistic approaches to delivering cyber-physical systems security?

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) combine cyber, physical and human activities through computing and network technologies, creating opportunities for benign and malign actions that affect organisations in both the physical and computational spheres. The US National Cyber Security Strategy (US White House, 2023) warns that this exposes crucial systems to disruption over a wide CPS attack surface. The UK National Cyber Security Centre Annual Review (UK National Cyber Security Centre, 2023) acknowledges that, although some organisations are evolving ‘a more holistic view of critical systems rather than purely physical assets’, this is not reflected in governance structures that still tend to treat cyber and physical security separately.