National Infrastructure Protection Research Articles

Leveraging AI and Machine Learning for the Protection of Critical National Infrastructure

Leveraging AI and Machine Learning for the Protection of Critical National Infrastructure

Implementation of a COVID-19 Closed/Open POD Partnership: A Creative Professional Practice Exemplar for Occupational and Environmental Health Nurses.

For more than 15 years, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that all community agencies and workplace environments create structured communication and collaborative plans for emergency or disaster events (2008). This recommendation is aligned with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (2022) National Infrastructure Protection Plan. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic ultimately demonstrated the importance of having organized plans and processes in place for the effective and rapid dispensing of medical countermeasures (MCMs) to the general populace. Occupational and environmental health nurses (OHNs) can utilize examples of successful MCM dispensing programs and adjust details to fit individual organizational needs. This report examines a closed point of dispensing (Closed POD) mass vaccination program as a guide for designing successful workplace partnerships. Closed PODs are public or private sites that have set up a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with local health authorities to dispense MCMs to their populations during a public health emergency. The desired outcome of a closed POD agreement is the facilitation of employee health and safety, as well as enabling workplace continuity of operations. OHNs will play a pivotal role in any future disaster or emergency event. Because OHNs understand the critical need for anticipatory planning, they are in a prime position to drive the creation and implementation of a closed POD partnership between their workplace and their local health department.

ФОРМУВАННЯ СИСТЕМИ ПІДГОТОВКИ ФАХІВЦІВ У СФЕРІ ЗАХИСТУ КРИТИЧНОЇ ІНФРАСТРУКТУРИ: КОМПЕТЕНЦІЇ ВИПУСКНИКІВ ТА ЗМІСТ НАВЧАЛЬНИХ ДИСЦИПЛІН

Background . The Law of Ukraine "On Critical Infrastructure" defines the task of ensuring the security and resilience of critical infrastructure. The practice of implementation of the Law provisions shows the need to introduce a system of education and training of personnel in this area. The observed tendencies of increasing of the range of threats to critical infrastructure, in particular during armed conflict, only emphasize the urgency of raising the level of knowledge and skills of personnel in this area. The purpose of the article is to review potential formats of education and identification of fields of knowledge and specialties within which it is appropriate to reflect issues of critical infrastructure protection in the educational process. Among the important tasks of the article are: a review of research on the problems and the practice of implementation of the educational process in this field, an analysis of legislative and organizational opportunities for the introduction of educational programs, a review of higher education standards and programs, identification of basic competencies of graduates and program results of studies in this area. Methods . There were used methods of theoretical-methodological and comparative analysis for the developing conceptual approaches to the organization of education process on the issues of security and resilience of critical infrastructure. The system-functional analysis of the tasks of the subjects responsible for critical infrastructure protection was used to determine the fields of knowledge and specialties in which it is appropriate to train specialists. Methods of system analysis to form a list of program results of training in this area. Results . The article proposes a methodical approach to determining the necessary competencies, knowledge and skills of the personnel of the subjects of the national system of critical infrastructure protection. The list of specialties in which it is expedient to train specialists by higher education institutions of Ukraine has been defined. A set of competencies and program learning outcomes have been developed, which could serve as basic for developing educational standards and educational programs. A set of educational disciplines is offered that can be a component of the educational process in selected specialties. Conclusions . The article substantiates the legislative conditionality and scientific and practical relevance to establish the system of specialists training in the field of critical infrastructure protection. Though, the training system can cover various forms and methods of training, at the current stage of development of the national critical infrastructure protection system of Ukraine, it is advisable to introduce separate educational programs within the framework of existing educational programs of defined set of specialties. There has been developed the competencies and program outcomes for graduates. A set of educational disciplines that can be a component of the educational process in selected specialties is also proposed. In future, it is necessary to continue research on the development of specific educational programs on the security and resilience of critical infrastructure for various specialties.

REVIEW OF CYBERSECURITY STRATEGIES IN PROTECTING NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE USA

This review analyses cybersecurity methods in the USA, focusing on protecting national infrastructure, with lessons and implications for global cybersecurity practices. In an era dominated by digital interconnectedness, the protection of national infrastructure from cyber threats is of paramount importance. This paper provides a comprehensive review of cybersecurity strategies employed by the United States to safeguard critical national infrastructure. As the nation's reliance on technology continues to grow, so does the complexity and sophistication of cyber threats. The paper examines key frameworks, policies, and initiatives implemented by the USA to fortify its critical infrastructure against cyber-attacks. It outlines the current threat landscape, the evolving nature of cyber threats and the potential consequences of successful attacks on critical sectors such as energy, transportation, and finance. It also analyzes the strategic approaches adopted by the USA, including the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework, and collaborative efforts between the public and private sectors. The paper explores the role of government agencies, regulatory bodies, and private enterprises in implementing and enforcing cybersecurity measures. It assesses the effectiveness of information sharing initiatives, public-private partnerships, and international collaborations in enhancing the resilience of national infrastructure against cyber threats. Furthermore, the review addresses emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) in the context of cybersecurity. It evaluates how these technologies are leveraged to detect, prevent, and respond to cyber threats in real-time, considering both their benefits and potential risks. Ethical considerations, privacy concerns, and challenges associated with the implementation of robust cybersecurity strategies are also discussed. The paper concludes with insights into the evolving nature of cyber threats and recommendations for continuous improvement in national cybersecurity strategies, emphasizing the need for agility, adaptability, and collaboration to stay ahead of an ever-changing threat landscape. This study contributes to the broader understanding of cybersecurity practices, offering insights that are not only relevant to the USA but also applicable to other nations facing similar challenges in safeguarding their critical infrastructure in an increasingly interconnected and digital world.
 Keywords: Cybersecurity, Strategies, Protecting, National Infrastructure, USA, NIST, Artificial Intelligence.

Exploratory Study on the US NIPP Establishment Process for Strengthening National Critical Infrastructure Protection System in Korea

This study aims to strengthen and improve the evaluation system for national critical infrastructure protection by considering the importance of such infrastructure and the key feature of interdependency. This research analyzed the changing trends of the national critical infrastructure protection plan in the United States (NIPP-2006, NIPP-2009, NIPP-2013) to derive implications and propose a plan for developing the evaluation system for national infra protection. As a result of the analysis, the problems of Korean NIPP are as follows; First, the national goal of protecting national critical infrastructure is unclear. Second, understanding of the interdependence and independence of the national critical infrastructure is relatively weak due to the lack of national infra protection goals. Third, it is a matter of utilizing the evaluation results of the National Critical Infrastructure Protection Plan. Therefore, it is judged that it is time to consider changing the fundamental approach to the national critical infrastructure protection system and resetting the direction of the protection plan.

Protection of critical infrastructure as a component of Ukraine’s national security

The relevance of the subject under study is conditioned upon the scientific originality and practical significance of the problematic aspects of the protection of critical infrastructure as a component of the national security of Ukraine, specifically, regarding the creation and functioning of the national system of its protection. Given the fact that the term “critical infrastructure” is relatively new for Ukrainian legislation, a comprehensive list of objects included in its system has not yet been formed, and the optimal algorithms for ensuring their security have not been determined. The purpose of this study was a comprehensive investigation of Ukrainian legislation in the field of national security, which determines the legal and organizational foundations of the creation and functioning of the national critical infrastructure protection system, as well as obtaining scientific results in the form of conclusions aimed at optimizing the implementation of critical infrastructure protection. The methodological tools of the study included the hermeneutic method of learning social and legal phenomena, analytical, dogmatic, and generalization method. Considering the European integration processes of Ukraine, scientifically sound proposals were provided to improve the national legislation in the field of critical infrastructure protection according to international legal acts that govern issues of safety and protection of critical infrastructure objects. The term “critical infrastructure” was studied, the state of scientific developments regarding its protection was analysed, the algorithm of actions to ensure its security was analysed and determined, factoring in the Ukrainian political and military situation in the state

Data Mining-Based Cyber-Physical Attack Detection Tool for Attack-Resilient Adaptive Protective Relays

Maintaining proper operation of adaptive protection schemes is one of the main challenges that must be considered for smart grid deployment. The use of reliable cyber detection and protection systems boosts the preparedness potential of the network as required by National Infrastructure Protection Plans (NIPPS). In an effort to enhance grid cyber-physical resilience, this paper proposes a tool to enable attack detection in protective relays to tackle the problem of compromising their online settings by cyber attackers. Implementing the tool first involves an offline phase in which Monte Carlo simulation is used to generate a training dataset. Using rough set classification, a set of If-Then rules is obtained for each relay and loaded to the relays at the initialization stage. The second phase occurs during online operation, with each updated setting checked by the corresponding relay’s built-in tool to determine whether the settings received are genuine or compromised. A test dataset was generated to assess tool performance using the modified IEEE 34-bus test feeder. Several assessment measures have been used for performance evaluation and their results demonstrate the tool’s superior ability to classify settings efficiently using physical properties only.

2022.3.01ЗАХИСТ НАЦІОНАЛЬНОЇ КРИТИЧНОЇ ІНФОРМАЦІЙНОЇ ІНФРАСТРУКТУРИ: АКТУАЛЬНІ ПРОБЛЕМИ ТА ШЛЯХИ ЇХ ВИРІШЕННЯ

Advantages of the modern digital world and development of information technologies stipulated appearance of new threats to national security in an information sphere. All more frequent by the objects of cyberattacs, amount and power of which grows constantly, the information resources of financial institutions, enterprises of transport and power engineering, public organs, which guarantee security, defense, safety in case of disasters. Therefore a research purpose is a search of solutions of issues of the day for protection of national critical information infrastructure. Methods. For implementation of research different materials were used and applied aggregate of scientific and specially-legal scientific methods: dialectical method, system’s method and the analysis of content, method of induction and deduction, formal law method and others. These methods were select taking into account a select purpose and tasks of research. Results. The actual state of the legal adjusting of protection of critical information infrastructure of Ukraine is reflected In the article. The reference list of objects of domestic critical informative infrastructure, which require defence, is offered, for the use in scientific researches and practice. Actual threats are marked to safety of critical informative infrastructure, certain in the documents of strategic level and additionally specified on results the analysis of the materials of practice of counteraction to such threats. Such threats acquire fundamentally a new value in the conditions of conduct of Russian Federation of hybrid war against Ukraine and have tendencies to strengthening of them negative influence on the state of national security in it’s different spheres. Safety and security of objects of critical informative infrastructure from such threats are certain in Ukraine at conceptual level one of base elements of the national system of firmness. Modern problem aspects and necessities of defence of objects of critical informative infrastructure are outlined, offered paths of their decision taking into account Ukrainian and world experience, in thereby legislative, organizational, technical, regime, reconnaissance, counterespionage and investigation. Conclusions. For Ukraine characteristic are lacks of the legal adjusting of functioning and defence of national critical informative infrastructure, imperfection of public policy in the sphere of her defence in the conditions of high risk of feasance of diversions and terrorist and cyberattacs on her objects. Therefore for organization of effective defence of ОCІІ of Ukraine it is necessary to complete the forming of legislative ground of this activity, form the national system of defence of such objects, enter only methodology of providing of them stable functioning. It is also expedient to provide introduction of international standards of activity, adjusting of state-private partnership and development of international cooperation.

Cyberspace and the protection of critical national infrastructure

ABSTRACT Protecting critical infrastructure against cyber-attacks is a policy challenge arising from the disruptive potential of emerging digital technologies. Governments face difficult choices since cybersecurity is a public responsibility, but often a private task: Should they design their capacities hierarchically or rely on collaboration with private firms? We argue that choices depend on the institutional setting and the nature of the challenge. Our comparison of state-capitalist France with the market-capitalist United Kingdom corroborates our expectations that the former controls intermediaries more hierarchically and that both governments adopt a more assertive role when safeguarding against threats than when managing risks.

Rational Hydrogen Society Review: From the Perspective of the National Infrastructure PROTECTION Plan(NIPP) in Korea

Purpose: In line with the global transition to a hydrogen society, Korea is accelerating the vitalization of the hydrogen economy through relevant plans and strategies. In order to revitalize the hydrogen economy, it is necessary to add hydrogen-related matters to the National Infrastructure Protection Plan(NIPP) and to pro-mote continuous stability for the national-level hydrogen infrastructure. This study aims to present direction from a long-term perspective for the addition of NIPP to hydrogen infrastructure. Method: This study reviews and recognizes the importance of efficient construction strategies for hydrogen society. As an example, we analyze the case of Japan, which established a basic plan for hydrogen society be-fore Korea. The factors for realizing the plan were analyzed by categorizing the contents into flexibility, adap-tability, and reliability. Results: We were able to find some implications through the case study. First, It is important to seek inter-national cooperation for hydrogen supply and to respond flexibly to ensure that the plan is not disrupted in order to realize a hydrogen society and to secure safety. Second, it is necessary to regularly revise and imple-ment the roadmap over time so that the plan can adapt well to time. Thirdly, In order to reinforce the credibili-ty of the plan, a risk communication plan to enhance Local Acceptance should be devised. Conclusion: Korea cannot achieve empirical results simply by reducing carbon emissions and building an eco-friendly hydrogen society. It is important to discover demand and monitor hydrogen-related infrastructure integrally with potential stakeholders. In addition, social acceptance, including the central government, local governments, and private businesses, is essential to improve the public s awareness and understanding of hy-drogen society and to strategically rearrange hydrogen infrastructure. The establishment of the NIPP with the addition of hydrogen social infrastructure will contribute to raising national interest and increasing public con-fidence in hydrogen safety.

ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL CONTENT OF THE NATIONAL CYBERSECURITY SYSTEM AS A COMPONENT OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY SYSTEM OF UKRAINE

The article offers for consideration the author's results of determining the conceptual provisions of the administrative and legal content of the national cybersecurity system as a component of the national security system of Ukraine. The content of the current state of state policy in the field of formation of the cybersecurity system is considered. Theoretical and practical aspects of organizational support of the cybersecurity system are analyzed. General and special subjects of cybersecurity are identified. The own vision of the following main elements in the system of cyber security of Ukraine (according to the main types of threats to cybersecurity) is proposed: 1) national system of combating cybercrime; 2) national system for combating cyberterrorism; 3) a nationwide system for combating cyber espionage; 4) national system of counteraction to information wars and new complex types of threats, including hybrid wars; 5) national system of cyber protection of national critical infrastructure. The administrative and legal understanding of the concept of national cybersecurity system is established – a set of special subjects of the national cybersecurity system, means and methods used by them, as well as a set of relevant interconnected information, cybernetic, legal, organizational, technical and strategic communications measures carried out by them. It is concluded that since the national security system is multicomponent, there is a need for a special subsystem, the purpose of which would be to ensure the functioning and development of this system, ie to ensure the viability of its system-forming elements, including national interests, society, state. Such a system is the national security system, as well as the national cybersecurity system. These factors confirm the conclusion that the national cybersecurity system is considered not only as a subsystem of the state information policy, but also primarily as a component of the national security system of Ukraine.

Probabilistic risk assessment on wind turbine towers subjected to cyclone‐induced wind loads

AbstractA probabilistic risk assessment to estimate the economic impact on wind turbine towers subjected to cyclone‐induced wind loads is applied. An event‐based probabilistic framework is used to assess the risk parameters for selected hazard events. The results are integrated considering all uncertainties related to each part of the process in a probabilistic formal way. The hazard is defined by a set of nonoverlapping stochastic events that exhaust the considered sample space, including the spatial distribution, the annual frequency, and the randomness of the hazard intensity. The vulnerability is defined in terms of the first and second statistical moments: the expected damage and its corresponding variance (or standard deviation) for a certain type of wind turbine towers. The vulnerability component of the model is an important contribution of the study; it uses a realistic modeling of the wind field, and instead of one (as in other studies), three failure modes are considered to characterize the vulnerability. The risk is expressed in economic terms, namely, the single‐event expected loss, the average annual loss, the pure premium, and the loss exceedance curve. The approach is applied to a probabilistic tropical cyclone wind risk assessment on 3001 wind turbine towers from 65 wind farms in Mexico. It is concluded that the selected metrics are of especial importance for risk retention (financing), particularly if schemes or risk transfer instruments are to be defined, and therefore, they will be a very valuable contribution to further studies in defining strategies for financial protection of national infrastructure against wind disasters induced by cyclones.

Correction to: A configurative synthesis of evidence for fear in the criminal decision-making process

In the original publication of the article, the Acknowledgement section was missed. The Acknowledgement section should read as: Acknowledgements This research was funded by the Centre for Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI).

Coupled flow accumulation and atmospheric blocking govern flood duration

We present a physically based Bayesian network model for inference and prediction of flood duration that allows for a deeper understanding of the nexus of antecedent flow regime, atmospheric blocking, and moisture transport/release mechanisms. Distinct scaling factors at the land surface and regional atmospheric levels are unraveled using this Bayesian network model. Land surface scaling explains the variability in flood duration as a function of cumulative exceedance index, a new measure that represents the evolution of the flood in the basin. Dynamic atmospheric scaling explains the cumulative exceedance index using the interaction between atmospheric blocking system and the synergistic model of wind divergence and atmospheric water vapor. Our findings underline that the synergy between a large persistent low-pressure blocking system and a higher rate of divergent wind often triggers a long-duration flood, even in the presence of moderate moisture supply in the atmosphere. This condition in turn causes an extremely long-duration flood if the basin-wide cumulative flow prior to the flood event was already high. Thus, this new land-atmospheric interaction framework integrates regional flood duration scaling and dynamic atmospheric scaling to enable the coupling of ‘horizontal’ (for example, streamflow accumulation inside the basin) and ‘vertical’ flow of information (for example, interrelated land and ocean-atmosphere interactions), providing an improved understanding of the critical forcing of regional hydroclimatic systems. This Bayesian model approach is applied to the Missouri River Basin, which has the largest system of reservoirs in the United States. Our predictive model can aid in decision support systems for the protection of national infrastructure against long-duration flood events.

Agroterrorism in the U.S.: An Overview

Since the attacks of 9/11, vulnerabilities of the nation's infrastructure have been analyzed and discussed. The United States (U.S.) has identified the protection of national systems and infrastructure, such as the transportation, communication, water supply, and agriculture networks, as priorities to defend against terrorism. This document is FSHN05-21, one of the Food Safety and Biosecurity White Paper Series, Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, UF/IFAS Extension. Original publication date October 2005. 
 FSHN0521/FS126: Agroterrorism in the US: An Overview (ufl.edu)

Improvement Proposals for the Guidelines for the National Infrastructure Protection Plan

To maintain a minimum functional continuity of the national infrastructure, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety provides detailed guidelines for the establishment of a national infrastructure protection plan for each management agency. Subsequently, the management agencies must establish an institutional plan to protect the national infrastructure, to maintain the continuity of functions such as core functions and facilities in case of a disaster, and to secure the safety of people and minimize damage. However, the proposed standards for the guidelines for the National Infrastructure Protection Plan are based on common issues related to the protection of the national infrastructure system that fail to provide the correct guidelines, which reflect the characteristics of each sector. In addition, as the risk assessment procedures such as risk and impact analysis are conceptually presented, an evaluation based on the characteristics of the facilities is insufficient; in some agencies, it is performed perfunctorily. Therefore, this study analyzes the present state of the National Infrastructure Protection Plans, demonstrates the common problems, and suggests ways to improve the vulnerable parts of the guidelines for the National Infrastructure Protection Plan using case studies of advanced foreign countries. Keywords: National Infrastructure System, National Infrastructure Protection Plans, Guidelines for National Infrastructure Protection Plan, Risk Assessment

The critical infrastructure protection. Legislation

The content outline: in accordance with law, the Polish critical infrastructure constitutes 11 sectors, vital for national security and public safety persistence. Two of the sectors (energy sector and transportation systems sector), are elements of the European Critical Infrastructure, and due to Poland’s EU and NATO membership, are subject to particular protection. The paper describes general principles of Polish critical infrastructure safety law acts and critical infrastructure sectors. Later in this paper, 4 alert states (THREATCON), and their impact on the critical infrastructure safety and protection were presented. The purpose and the program content of the National Critical Infrastructure Protection Programme and the National Infrastructure Protection Plan were described.

Strategy for Enhancement of a Protection of National Infrastructure in Transportation

Strategy for Enhancement of a Protection of National Infrastructure in Transportation

Injury representation against ballistic threats using three novel numerical models

Injury modelling of ballistic threats is a valuable tool for informing policy on personal protective equipment and other injury mitigation methods. Currently, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Centre for...

A vulnerability-driven cyber security maturity model for measuring national critical infrastructure protection preparedness

Critical infrastructures are vital assets for the public safety, economic welfare and national security of countries. Cyber systems are used extensively to monitor and control critical infrastructures. A number of infrastructures are connected to the Internet via corporate networks. Cyber security is, therefore, an important item of the national security agenda of a country. The intense interest in cyber security has initiated research focusing on national cyber security maturity assessments. However, little, if any, research is dedicated to maturity assessments of national critical infrastructure protection efforts. Instead, the vast majority of studies merely examine diverse national-level security best practices ranging from cyber crime response to privacy protection.This paper proposes a maturity model for measuring the readiness levels of national critical infrastructure protection efforts. The development of the model involves two steps. The first step analyzes data pertaining to national cyber security projects using grounded theory to extract the root causes of the susceptibility of critical infrastructures to cyber threats. The second step determines the maturity criteria by introducing the root causes to subject-matter experts polled in a Delphi survey. The resulting survey-based maturity model is applied to assess the critical infrastructure protection efforts in Turkey. The results are realistic and intuitively appealing, demonstrating that the maturity model is useful for evaluating the national critical infrastructure protection preparedness of developing countries such as Turkey.