Critical Infrastructures
Which are our critical infrastructures? How sensitive are they to Year 2000 defects and failures? Do countries and industries have the resources to assure their continued operation? - Richard Collins

Keywords: Critical Infrastructure, Electrical Power Systems, Gas and Oil Transportation and Storage, Water Supply Systems, Emergency Services, Transportation, Information and Communications, Government Services, Survivability, Infrastructural Warfare, Telecommunications, Nuclear Power, National Defense, Emergency Preparedness, Hospitals,

President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion - Year 2000 Information by Sector

President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection (No obvious activity on Y2K) "The PCCIP advises and assists the President of the United States by recommending a national strategy for protecting and assuring critical infrastructures from physical and cyber threats. Critical Foundations: Protecting America's Infrastructures

Industry Advisor Council - (No obvious activity on Y2K)

Survivability Architectures -- Portland University, University of Virginia "Critical infrastructure applications must be robust in the face of many difficulties, including, but not limited to, attacks by hostile parties. Survivability is thus the ability of a system to continue to provide service under a range of adverse circumstances. In addition to security, high dependability is required: a combination of reliability, availability, safety. The failure of an infrastructure application owing to internal defects can have consequences just as severe as those from external threats, including loss of service, loss and corruption of data, cascading failures, and other damage. Moreover, engineering defects can create security "holes." Software evolution further complicates matters. As with any large application, critical infrastructure applications have to evolve to remain useful: to correct faults, and to accommodate changes in requirements and operating environments. Unanticipated changes are especially disruptive because they tend to compromise system structures in ways that make it hard to maintain and verify key properties (including survivability). Designing infrastructure applications for continuing survivability in face of long-term evolution is a real challenge." Survivability Architectures -- RELATED SITES, Survivability Architectures -- BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Journal of Infrastructural Warfare "Welcome to the Journal of Infrastructural Warfare. Infrastructural Warfare (IWAR) is warfare waged to or from the material and information infrastructures, and includes terrorism, guerrilla warfare, information warfare; the Journal of IWAR is dedicated to a community discussion of threat analysis. This site is available only by subscription to the Centre of Infrastructural Warfare Studies (CIWARS) Intelligence Report. This report is produced 50 times a year. It provides analysis on infrastructure disruptions with threat assessment commentary." Infrastructure Monitoring Report - This is a companion report to the IWAR Situation Report. The Infrastructure Monitoring Report is used as an analysis tool to survey coordinated disruptions that move through the world-wide linked infrastructure. It monitors the strategic areas of the infrastructure

• air transportation,
• electric and water utilities,
• banking, currency transactions,
• land transportation,
• telephone systems, satellite,
• Year 2000 Problems,
• Privatization, and oil production.

http://www.dis.anl.gov/survey/ "The Presidential Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection is requesting information regarding technologies and capabilities for protecting critical infrastructures vital to our nation's economic and national security. Of particular concern are physical and cyber threats to critical infrastructures."

• "Critical infrastructures: Infrastructures deemed to be so vital that the incapacity or destruction of critical components within them would have a debilitating regional or national impact. The incapacity or destruction may be by functional impact, duration, scope, cost, or function. As defined in Executive order 13010, the following elements are considered as the Critical Infrastructures: Electrical power systems; Gas and oil; Transportation; Emergency services; Telecommunications; Water supply systems; Banking and finance; and Continuity of government"

CrossTalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering

Infosec: Information Security Links to Information Warfare Discussion Groups Crypto Viruses Operating System Security Presidents Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection

Western Systems Coordinating Council "WSCC is committed to being the regional forum for actively promoting regional electric service reliability through: the development of planning and operating reliability criteria and policies; the monitoring of compliance with these criteria and policies; and the facilitation of a regional transmission planning process."

Federal Bureau of Investigation : The Infrastructure Protection Task Force (IPTF) "The Infrastructure Protection Task Force (IPTF) is a multi-agency task force, created on July 15, 1996, by Executive Order 13010. It is the responsibility of the IPTF to identify and coordinate existing expertise and capabilities in the government and private sector as they relate to critical infrastructure protection from both physical threats and cyber threats. The Task Force is chaired by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The following executive branch departments and agencies have each appointed senior-level federal employees to the IPTF include: Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Defense Information Systems Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, National Communications System, Department of Transportation, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of Treasury. The number of IPTF members currently stands at twelve."

National Communications System Home Page "Assist the President, the National Security Council, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget in (1) the exercise of the telecommunications functions and responsibilities, and (2) the coordination of the planning for and provision of national security and emergency preparedness communications for the Federal government under all circumstances, including crisis or emergency, attack, recovery and reconstitution."

• National Coordinating Center for Telecommunications "The genesis of the NCS began in 1962 during the Cuban missile crisis when communication problems among the US, the USSR, NATO, and foreign heads of state threatened to complicate the crisis further. After the crisis, President John F. Kennedy ordered an investigation of national security communications, and the National Security Council (NSC) formed an interdepartmental committee to examine the communication networks and institute changes.
• The committee recommended the formation of a single unified communications system to serve the President, Department of Defense (DOD), diplomatic and intelligence activities, and civilian leaders. Consequently, in order to provide better communications support to critical government functions during emergencies, President Kennedy established the National Communications System (NCS) by a Presidential Memorandum on August 21, 1963. The NCS' mandate included linking, improving, and extending the communication facilities and components of various Federal agencies, focusing on interconnectivity and survivablity.
• On April 3, 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed Executive Order (E.O.) 12472 which broadened the NCS' national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) capabilities and superseded President Kennedy's 1963 memorandum. The NCS expanded from its original six members to an interagency group of 23 Federal departments and agencies, and began coordinating and planning NS/EP telecommunications to support crises and disasters.

National Security/ Telecommunications News Article :

• "Officials with the National Communications System (NCS) said many federal agencies are spending millions of dollars to assess and correct problems associated with their computers and the Year 2000. These agencies are working with industry in taking steps to reprogram computers and develop software to avoid the loss of valuable government information."
• Y2K problems could affect the public network's (PN) thousands of computers, switches, and associated information systems. At the March 18, 1997, National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) executive session, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin raised the Y2K issue as an important problem that should be tackled as quickly as possible.
• "The equipment manufacturers, software developers, service providers, and carriers have Y2K program offices working diligently to assess and correct potential Y2K problems," said Brush. "The Public Network is an enormous system to assess and to correct because of the rapidly growing number of competitors in the telecommunications industry. Close coordination must take place to ensure interoperability remains at the high level that it is today once we enter the Y2K."
• The National Coordinating Center for Telecommunications is also urging its industry members to focus their attention on any special requirements which may be unique to national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) features and services. "The NCS will update NCS member departments and agencies on the activities of the telecommunications industry as we approach the Y2K," said Brush. "The NCC will continue to interact as closely as possible with the telecommunications industry and other industry consortia addressing Y2K issues to determine if there may be any special requirements to be addressed specific to NS/EP telecommunications."

National Information Infrastructure "The National Information Infrastructure (NII) holds great promise for the future. The convergence of communications technologies and the expansion of network services will transform our society and create unparalleled opportunities." Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility.

FEMA - The Federal Emergency Management Agency "There is much that can be done to prevent or reduce the impact of disasters, the loss and suffering - to manage emergencies and disasters. As outlined in its Strategic Plan for the future, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, works to reduce risks, strengthen support systems and help people and their communities prepare for and cope with disasters regardless of the cause. Since its founding in 1979, FEMA's mission has been clear:

• to reduce loss of life and property and protect our nation's critical infrastructure from all types of hazards through a comprehensive, risk-based, emergency management program of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery."

Infrastructure Assurance "In recent years, changes in the character of global patterns and threat perception have led the highest levels of government to seriously examine threats posed to the national infrastructure. There is grave concern that the possibility of doing harm to the nation is high. Great spatial distance alone can no longer provide protection as in years past. Consequently, Jaycor is expanding its role in the realm of strategic defense and applying its technical expertise to solve some of the most vexing problems ever faced by this nation. Jaycor is committed to harnessing its proven strategic operations background and state-of-the-art technical strengths to fully characterize national infrastructure vulnerabilities and prepare a defense against them."

American Computer Scientists Association (ASCA) On-Line Research Site "ACSA became a non-profit, charitable research and education organization under IRC 501(c)3 during 1993. Prior thereto, its membership consisted of three organizations: the American Computing Association (formed in 1970), the American Certified Computer Consultants Associations (formed in 1980); and the American Certified Computer Scientists Association (formed in 1990). As a result of becoming a non-profit charitable association, ACSA ceased charging fees for membership in 1994, and made the 58,000 plus computer science and 1800 plus technology company membership life members. Since that time, ACSA has operated without any substantial professional fund raising and has managed to organize research, educational programs, academic programs, public awareness and pro-bono activities without receiving a single dollar of grant or donor moneys." About the President's Commission on Critical Infrastucture Protection