When Security Means Sustainability: A Comparison Between the Life Cycle Assessment of a Cybersecurity Monitoring Solution and the Environmental Impact of Cyberattacks

Cyberattacks targeting industrial control systems can produce environmental damage by disrupting energy production, altering chemical processes, or forcing reliance on more carbon-intensive backup resources. Yet, the environmental dimension of cybersecurity risk is rarely quantified. This paper examines the connection between cybersecurity and sustainability by comparing the environmental impact of cyber-induced power plant disruption with the life cycle emissions involved in deploying cybersecurity monitoring solutions. We present a quantitative scenario in which a cyberattack forces a temporary disconnection of a power generation unit from the grid, leading to additional CO2 emissions primarily from wasted fuel during the operational disruption and subsequent reconnection procedures. The resulting carbon footprint is then compared with the emissions associated with implementing a continuous monitoring system designed to prevent such incidents. The results demonstrate that the installation and operation of a continuous monitoring system has a negligible environmental impact (below 5 tCO2 over five years) compared to the emissions resulting from a single 12 h outage event (460–836 tCO2), even when considering only the direct fuel waste. These findings position cybersecurity investment as a climate-positive strategy for the energy sector.