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Reportedly, security for the 2002 Salt Lake City games cost $1.3 billion, the 2004 Athens games were $1.5 billion, and the estimated cost for the 2012 London games is probably going over the $2 billion dollar mark. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that security for the Vancouver Olympic games may approach or exceed $1 billion.

However, in all the above security budget increases, how much attention was or is being paid to keeping the lights on? What about keeping the oil and natural gas flowing? What about the water supply?

The common thread in these critical infrastructure issues are the actual devices and systems used to operate them. These Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) and other industrial control systems are the ubiquitous brains that work continuously day in and day out that that we hardly notice them. That is until the lights go out or a pipeline breaks.

No doubt, implementing security for an event the size of the Olympics is mind boggling exercise and the opportunities for mischief are just as significant. But, in this enlightened age we should be considering the security of not just the people, but the critical infrastructure upon which all the people depend upon. Consider for a moment that a physical security incident occurs at the Games (knock on wood, this does not occur, but we all remember the mayhem from the unfortunate pipe bomb at the Atlanta Summer Games. The security measures in place will surely work to contain the damage and ensure everyone’s safety.

But now consider if the attack is complemented by a cyber attack on the power grid. Power goes down, traffic lights go out, and non-mobile communications goes out. This scenario is not a rosy one.

There are no perfect solutions, but the risk can be managed. Of course, the first step in managing the risk is to know what the vulnerabilities are via thorough assessments of the physical world as well as the cyber world.

- Perry