Infrastructure Protection Research Articles

Revolutionizing library access: exploring the potential of virtual positioning systems

PurposeThis study aims to explore the potential of virtual positioning systems (VPSs) in revolutionising library access. It examines the benefits and challenges associated with implementing VPSs.Design/methodology/approachThe study takes a comprehensive approach by analysing library users’ current challenges in accessing physical resources and services within traditional library settings. It analyses the benefits of VPSs in enhancing library access, considering factors such as improved navigation, accessibility for personalised recommendations, virtual tours and interactive experiences. The study also examines the implications of implementing VPSs regarding library resource management, staff training and infrastructure requirements.FindingsThe findings reveal that VPS has the potential to address various challenges faced by library users, such as limited availability of resources, inconvenient locations and inadequate access for individuals with special needs. VPS offers improved navigation, enhanced accessibility, personalised recommendations, virtual tours and interactive experiences. Implementing VPSs requires robust technological infrastructure, user adoption, privacy considerations and system maintenance. Libraries must invest in hardware, network infrastructure, staff training and data protection measures.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the ongoing discourse surrounding the transformation of libraries and the assimilation of emergent technologies. It highlights the potential of VPSs in revolutionising library access. By embracing the latent potential of VPSs, libraries can transcend physical boundaries, enhance user experiences and ensure seamless access to a wealth of resources in a digitised world.

Civil Protection and Protection of Critical Infrastructure in Ukraine During the Conditions of the Martial State

The article studies the legal basis for providing civil protection and protection of critical infrastructure in Ukraine under martial law. In particular, the authors draw attention to the fact that, as of today, the issue of providing civil protection and protection of critical infrastructure in Ukraine is crucial due to the Russian Federation’s encroachment on its territorial integrity and inviolability, starting in 2014. This problem has gained particular urgency since the open military full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, which took place on February 24, 2022. Summarizing the conclusions of the conducted scientific research, based on the analysis of the levels of formation and implementation of the state policy of Ukraine in the field of civil protection and protection of critical infrastructure, in the system of its subject composition, the author considers it appropriate to single out: subjects of the policy of civil defense and protection of critical infrastructure at the national level; issues of the policy of civil security and safety of critical infrastructure at the industry (sectoral) level; civil protection and essential infrastructure protection policy subjects at the local level; issues of the policy of civil security and safety of critical infrastructure at the object level (at the enterprise, institution, organization).

Balancing wildlife protection and wildfire threat mitigation using a network optimization approach

In boreal forests of North America, land managers often carry out preventive treatments of forest fuel for the protection of human infrastructure from wildfires. However, these treatments may negatively affect other ecosystem services, such as the capacity to sustain wildlife populations. Here, we examine the efficacy of a strategy aimed at preserving a critical movement corridor for boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in northern Québec, Canada, by raising high-voltage power line conductors above the forest canopy. To assess the interplay between the caribou protection objectives and a reduction in power line's exposure to wildfires, we developed an optimization model that combines the objectives of protecting the power line from wildfires via fuel treatments and maintaining a suitable movement corridor for caribou. The model combines a critical node detection (CND) problem with a habitat connectivity problem that allocates a minimum-resistance fixed-width habitat corridor between isolated wildlife refuges. Our results identify the best locations to perform fire fuel treatments to lessen the threat of fire damage to human infrastructure while maintaining a connectivity corridor for caribou in present and future climate scenarios. The selected fuel treatment locations aimed to mitigate wildfire exposure to a power line. In small-budget solutions, the exposure of power line infrastructure to wildfires was reduced by 36–39% in current climate conditions and by 20–31% in future climate, compared with no-treatment scenarios. Despite the detrimental effects of wildfire on both the industrial asset and caribou habitat, the approach provides strategies that help achieve a compromise between these two values. Such knowledge is timely to help mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on human livelihoods and natural ecosystems.

A Novel Deep Learning Method for Water leakage Detection Using Acoustic Features

Conservation of water is one of the major objectives for any country around the world. Water management plays a very important role in a society, as it is one of the basic needs for the mankind. Water leak detection is an important task for ensuring the safety and efficiency of water systems. Deep learning techniques, combined with real-time sensor data, can greatly enhance the accuracy and efficiency of water leak detection. Water leak detection plays a crucial role in maintaining the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of water systems. This paper presents an investigation of the capacity of deep learning methods (DL) to localize leakage in water distribution systems (WDS). Progress in real-time monitoring of WDS and DL has inspired towards new opportunities to develop data-based methods for water leak localization. However, the handlers of WDS need recommendations for the selection of the optimal DL methods as well their practical use for leakage localization. This paper contributes to this issue through an investigation of the capacity of DL methods to localize leakage in WDS. Water leak detection is crucial in conversation of water, cost saving, infrastructure protection prevention of water damage and operation efficiency. This paper shows a proposal for a system based on a wireless sensor network designed to monitor water distribution systems, such as hotel industry, irrigation systems, which, with the help of an autonomous learning algorithm, allows for precise location of water leaks. Autoencoder neural network (AE), an unsupervised DL model, is further developed to detect leak with unbalanced data. The results show AE-DL model achieved high accuracy when leaks occur in pipes inside the sensor monitoring area, while the accuracy is compromised otherwise. This observation will provide guidelines to deploy monitoring sensors to cover the desired monitoring area. A novel strategy is proposed based on multiple independent detection attempts to further increase the reliability of leak detection by the AE-DL and is found to significantly reduce the probability of false alarm.

Critical maritime infrastructure protection: What’s the trouble?

The protection of critical maritime infrastructures has become a top political priority, since the September 2022 attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea. This contribution reveals why the protection of infrastructures at sea is a difficult task. Reviewing the spectrum of maritime infrastructures (transport, energy, data, fishing, ecosystems) and the potential threats to them (accidents, terrorism, blue crime, grey zone tactics) demonstrates that designating infrastructures as critical and worthy of special protection measures is a political choice. The analysis moreover shows the need of protective instruments that are tailored to the specificities of maritime space, and the need for integrating diverse policy fields, including defense, diplomacy, marine safety, maritime security and cyber security. Cooperation with the infrastructure industry, enhanced surveillance and investments in repair capacities are also required.

Hydrodynamic Model Tests for Seaweed as a Source of Energy Reduction during Extreme Events

One fifth of the world’s population and critical infrastructures are close to the coast and regions of high-risk sea level rise elevation. The last decades have been characterized by increasing extreme events, including storm surges, flooding, coastal erosion, enhanced coastal vulnerability with associated livelihood, and economic losses. Nature-based engineering solutions are being adopted as sustainable solutions for helping existing technologies live their design life and providing climate change adaptation and resilience for coastal and riverine communities. This paper involves the investigation of nature-based eco-hydraulic soft coastal engineering to cultivate seaweed for coastal protection. In this context, the present study involves an advanced risk evaluation performed by conducting an extreme bore interaction with seaweed as a soft engineering coastal protection measure. The load reduction on the inland structure during extreme flooding conditions, incorporating seaweed, is addressed. The present study indicates that the load on inland structures can be reduced by as much as 14% in extreme flooding conditions in the presence of seaweed with two rows of seaweed, indicating the usage of seaweed as a part of coastal protection over existing site protection infrastructure for improved coastal mitigation.

Atmospheric Corrosion of Steel Infrastructure in Canada Under Climate Change

Protection against atmospheric corrosion of steel infrastructure and its components requires assessment and prediction of corrosion rates using quantitative and reliable modeling of the environmental parameters that impact the corrosion process. This has become even more critical in the context of climate change. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using ISO dose-response functions (DRFs) to classify atmospheric corrosiveness in Canada to improve the current qualitative approach to the corrosion design of carbon steel infrastructure, especially bridges. The DRF predictions for first-year corrosion rates were first validated using a set of historical field data collected from different locations across Canada. Further examination has revealed a dramatic change in atmospheric corrosiveness at many locations in Canada since the last systematic effort in field data collection in the 1950s to 1960s. It is believed that this was caused by a significant drop in in sulfur dioxide levels in the atmosphere. A projection of future corrosiveness in various Canadian cities with differing climates was also presented by considering the projected impacts of climate change on the temperature and relative humidity. This study has shown a promising precursor for the development of a corrosiveness map in Canada to better guide the corrosion design and protection of steel infrastructure. Furthermore, this study has demonstrated an acute need to understand the current chloride deposition conditions of steel bridges, including the increased local exposure of roadways to corrosiveness by the use of de-icing salts.

Government Spending Effect on HDI Indragiri Hilir: An ECM Approach

Indragiri Hilir Regency has the second lowest Human Development Index compared to the newly established regencies and cities in Riau province. However, Indragiri Hilir Regency has a relatively high allocation of development budget and per capita income compared to other regencies and cities. The objectives of the study were to determine whether the effect of the Indragiri Hilir government expenditure realization on the Human Development Index is cointegrated, to examine the long-term impact of expenditure realization on education, health, infrastructure, environmental, and social protection functions on the Human Development Index in Indragiri Hilir, and to analyze the short-term effects of environmental and social protection functions on the Human Development Index. The study employed the Error Correction Model (ECM) method, utilizing data from the period 2007 to 2021 obtained from the Directorate General of Fiscal Balance (DJPK) of the Indonesian Ministry of Finance for independent variables, while dependent variables were sourced from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS). The study findings revealed that government spending has a cointegrated influence on the Development Index. Furthermore, it was observed that the realization of government spending on education, health, and infrastructure functions did not significantly affect the Human Development Index in the Indragiri Hilir regency. In contrast, the realization of government spending on environmental functions showed a significant positive correlation. Similarly, the realization of Indragiri Hilir's government spending on social protection functions had a significant negative correlation. Therefore, the government of Indragiri Hilir Regency should assess expenditure realization on education, health, and infrastructure functions and introduce innovative programs. Increased spending on social protection led to a reduction in the Human Development Index.

Maritime Security in the Baltic and Japanese Straits From the Perspective of EEZ Corridors

This study focuses on the practice of the Baltic Sea coastal states and Japan in voluntarily limiting the outer extent of their territorial sea in straits. The reasons for the establishment of narrow exclusive economic zone (EEZ) corridors in straits are mostly related to security considerations. This article examines the consequences of such state practice for navigational regimes and for the protection of critical offshore infrastructure. It is argued that the abolition of an EEZ corridor results in the nominal increase of a coastal state’s sovereign territory, whereas it implies a decrease in the substantive scope of sovereignty over the relevant maritime area.

Preparing for the Just Transition from Local Economies’ Perspective: Belchatow Brown Coal Basin Case Study (Central Poland)

This article addresses the matter of investment decisions undertaken by the local authorities of coal-dependent economies in the context of oncoming transition resulting from the industrial facilities closure. The article offers an analysis of investment expenditures in three areas: technical infrastructure, social infrastructure, and environmental protection. The theoretical part of the article is focused on the issues of the just transition process and the role of institutions in effective planning for the post-coal future. Examples of concrete investments mitigating the negative effects of the coal phase-out are presented. The research is also completed by the recommendations and suggestions for policy makers.

USING CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AS A STRATEGIC RESOURCE FOR IMPROVING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF THE STATE

This article explores the theoretical and practical aspects of protecting critical infrastructure as a strategic resource for improving the competitiveness of the state. In the article, the concept of critical infrastructure is defined and justified as a strategic resource for improving the competitiveness of the state. Also, a number of threats are identified that can affect the functioning of objects of critical infrastructure and cause instability at different levels, including national security, which significantly affects the competitiveness of the state. One of the directions for ensuring effective protection of critical infrastructure is to develop a policy of “efficiency” – to optimize the distribution and application of state security resources for localizing potential sources of threat and enhancing the competitiveness of the state. The approach to formulating content of the concept of “threat” in the context of competitiveness of the state is analyzed and improved. The focus is on identifying critical objects on national, regional and local levels of infrastructure as a strategic resource for improving the competitiveness of the state. The methodology for attributing objects of national infrastructure to the field of critical infrastructure in accordance with their importance functions and services that they perform is described. A list of vitally important functions and services provided by representatives that require protection is presented, as well as representatives that are objects of critical infrastructure in the context of national security and competitiveness of the state. The content of relevant normative-legal acts that provided grounds for specifying a list of threats to critical infrastructure and confirming its inclusion in strategic resources for ensuring national security and enhancing competitiveness of the state is analyzed. Based on a critical analysis, it is generalized that there are three main categories of threats to critical infrastructure: natural origin, technological nature and malicious actions. It is proposed to supplement this list with combined threats that can cause “synergy effect” destabilization of critical infrastructure, reducing competitiveness of the state.

Применение средств экспертизы Blue Team в процессе мониторинга информационных систем на примере платформы TI (Threat Intelligence)

The purpose of this scientific study is to analyze the possibilities of increasing the effectiveness of protection against cyber threats through the use of Blue Team expert systems. The paper provides an overview of various Blue Team expert systems, including advanced detection and response (XDR) systems, information security incident response platforms (IRPs), incident management, automation and response (SOAR) systems, as well as cyber intelligence systems for threat analysis (TI). Threat Intelligence processes are analyzed, including the collection, analysis and interpretation of information about cyber threats. Particular attention is paid to the cyber intelligence platform for threat analysis – TI MISP, including the analysis of the data model of this platform. An example of working with the CVE-2022-26134 vulnerability is provided, demonstrating the effectiveness of using the TI MISP platform to identify threats and take measures to prevent them. At the end of the work, conclusions were drawn about the advantages and disadvantages of using a cyber intelligence platform for threat analysis. In this regard, the use of Blue Team expert systems, including the TI platform, in the process of monitoring information systems can significantly increase the efficiency of identifying computer incidents and provide more reliable protection of information infrastructure, despite their shortcomings.

Princes and Requirements for the Protection of Civilian Infrastructure from the Devastating Effects of Air Attack

Objective: the solution of an important scientific and applied task - to reduce the level of destructive impact of air attack means on life support objects to the maximum permissible level and to create complex protection of life support objects from the destructive effect of air attack means of attack. Theoretical background: considered and analyzed the use of air attack means and the destructive impact on civil infrastructure in the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war, tactical and technical characteristics, application options and priority. The principles and requirements for means of protection of civil infrastructure have been developed. The task of further research is defined. Methodology: determined by a complex of scientific research tasks and carried out using: methods of system analysis, methods of numerical modeling. Results and Discussion: may be useful:in the development of principles for the use of means of protection from the destructive impact of various means of air attack; in the development of new and improvement of existing methods of reducing the impact of means of air attack on critical infrastructure facilities to the maximum tolerable level. Conclusion: the conducted research will make it possible to formulate scientifically based recommendations for ensuring the protection of critical infrastructure objects from the destructive impact of various types of air attack means. Originality/value: increasing the degree of protection of critical infrastructure objects from air attack means with radar correlation-extreme guidance algorithms.

Моделювання загроз кібербезпеці у зв’язку з масовими відключеннями електропостачання та потенційні заходи протидії

During the Russian-Ukrainian war, mass power outages occurred in Ukraine, caused by Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure, namely on the generating and distribution capacities of the power system. The risks associated with such outages cover not only the issue of uninterrupted operation of the economy directly, but also more complex aspects related to cyber security. The impact of such outages on the cyber security of information and communication systems is con-sidered, namely, the second-order effects, such as interruptions with information observability, violation of the integrity of the protection infrastructure, overloading of monitoring teams and response to false alarms. All these factors alter the threat landscape for the system and must be considered in security policy and during the threat modeling process accor¬dingly. An analysis of hidden cyber security risks arising in connection with massive power outages was conduct-ed. Possible approaches to taking such risk factors into account when modeling threats, as well as methods of countermeasures, are given.

Місцеве самоврядування в Україні в умовах воєнного стану

The article analyzes the peculiarities of the functioning of local self-government in the conditions of martial law. It has been found that local self-government in Ukraine is a state-guaranteed right and real ability of a territorial community - residents of a village or a voluntary association of residents of several villages, towns, cities into a rural community - independently or under the responsibility of local self-government bodies and officials of local importance within the limits of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. It was established that martial law is a special legal regime introduced in Ukraine or in some of its localities in the event of armed aggression or threat of attack, danger to the state independence of Ukraine, its territorial integrity, and provides for the provision of appropriate state authorities, military command, military administrations and to local self-government bodies, the powers necessary to avert the threat, repulse armed aggression and ensure national security, eliminate the threat of danger to the state independence of Ukraine, its territorial integrity, as well as temporary, due to the threat, restriction of the constitutional rights and freedoms of a person and a citizen and the rights and legitimate interests of legal persons with an indication of the period of validity of these restrictions. It is noted that in the territories where martial law has been introduced, in order to ensure the operation of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, to ensure, together with the military command, the introduction and implementation of measures of the legal regime of martial law, defense, civil protection, public safety and order, protection of critical infrastructure, protection of rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of citizens, temporary state bodies - military administrations - can be formed. It was established that the creation of military administrations does not deprive local self-government bodies of their powers. It is indicated that local self-government in Ukraine demonstrated a significant level of efficiency when functioning under martial law. If it is necessary to solve a number of complex problems at the same time, the effectiveness of interaction between state authorities, the leadership of territorial communities and representatives of public and volunteer organizations remains high, which allows avoiding sharp crises in the process of ensuring the livelihood of communities. Last but not least, this situation is possible thanks to the 2014-2021 reform of power decentralization in Ukraine, which allowed a significant amount of powers and resources to be transferred «to places». Cooperation of local self-government bodies with international organizations is also a positive practice, which allows implementing joint development projects and sharing experience in various fields. It is emphasized that local self-government bodies play a major role in the creation of a state in modern Ukraine.

Developing Cybersecurity in an Industrial Environment by Using a Testbed Environment

Critical infrastructure protection requires a testing environment that allows the testing of different kinds of equipment, software, networks, and tools to develop vital functions of the critical industrial environment. Used electrical equipment must be reliable, capable and maintain a stable critical industrial ecosystem. An industrial business needs to develop cybersecurity capabilities that detect and prevent IT/ICT and OT/ICS threats in an industrial environment. The emerging trend has been to create security operations center (SOC) services to detect ICS-related threats in enterprise networks. The energy supply sector must consist of crucial elements for safe business continuity and supply chain management in the industrial sector. Threats have changed into a combination of threat types. Hybrid threats may prevent everyday industrial activities, processes, and procedures so that supply chain problems may become long-lasting and affects business continuity management. The project CSG belongs to the (Cybersecurity governance of operational technology in the sector connected smart energy) research project consortium of Business Finland’s Digital Trust Programme. The first research paper regarding the CSG (Cyber Security Governance) project concentrates on the applied theory background of this project. The research provides a research approach for investigating cyber security at the operational and technical levels. It answers the questions of where to concentrate on OT-related cyber security research and how we aim to deploy a testbed to develop a governance model in the CSG project. The study's primary purpose is to describe the operating OT-SOC environment and analyze system requirements for optimizing situational awareness in the testbed environment.

A forensics and compliance auditing framework for critical infrastructure protection

Contemporary societies are increasingly dependent on products and services provided by Critical Infrastructure (CI) such as power plants, energy distribution networks, transportation systems and manufacturing facilities. Due to their nature, size and complexity, such CIs are often supported by Industrial Automation and Control Systems (IACS), which are in charge of managing assets and controlling everyday operations.As these IACS become larger and more complex, encompassing a growing number of processes and interconnected monitoring and actuating devices, the attack surface of the underlying CIs increases. This situation calls for new strategies to improve Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) frameworks, based on evolved approaches for data analytics, able to gather insights from the CI.In this paper, we propose an Intrusion and Anomaly Detection System (IADS) framework that adopts forensics and compliance auditing capabilities at its core to improve CIP. Adopted forensics techniques help to address, for instance, post-incident analysis and investigation, while the support of continuous auditing processes simplifies compliance management and service quality assessment.More specifically, after discussing the rationale for such a framework, this paper presents a formal description of the proposed components and functions and discusses how the framework can be implemented using a cloud-native approach, to address both functional and non-functional requirements. An experimental analysis of the framework scalability is also provided.

Projectile Impact on Plain and Reinforced Concrete Slabs

Reinforced concrete is a material frequently used in protective structures and infrastructure exposed to extreme loading. In this study, the ballistic perforation resistance of 100 mm thick plain and reinforced concrete slabs impacted by 20 mm ogive-nose steel projectiles was investigated both experimentally and numerically. Two different reinforcement configurations were used to investigate the effect of rebar diameter and spacing. Concrete with nominal unconfined compressive strength of 75 MPa was used to cast material test specimens and slabs. Ballistic impact tests were performed in a compressed gas gun facility. The mechanical properties of the concrete were found using standardised tests and two-dimensional digital image correlation, and the constitutive relation was described by a modified version of the Holmquist-Johnson-Cook model. Finite element models in LS-DYNA reproduced the projectile residual velocity in good agreement with the experimental results. The primary objective of the study was thus to validate a rather simple constitutive relation intended for large scale numerical simulations of concrete structures exposed to ballistic impact loading, while a secondary objective was to investigate the effect of reinforcement on the ballistic perforation resistance of concrete slabs both experimentally and numerically since the literature is somewhat inconsistent on this matter.

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

Optimized Small Waterbird Detection Method Using Surveillance Videos Based on YOLOv7

Waterbird monitoring is the foundation of conservation and management strategies in almost all types of wetland ecosystems. China’s improved wetland protection infrastructure, which includes remote devices for the collection of larger quantities of acoustic and visual data on wildlife species, increased the need for data filtration and analysis techniques. Object detection based on deep learning has emerged as a basic solution for big data analysis that has been tested in several application fields. However, these deep learning techniques have not yet been tested for small waterbird detection from real-time surveillance videos, which can address the challenge of waterbird monitoring in real time. We propose an improved detection method by adding an extra prediction head, SimAM attention module, and sequential frame to YOLOv7, termed as YOLOv7-waterbird, for real-time video surveillance devices to identify attention regions and perform waterbird monitoring tasks. With the Waterbird Dataset, the mean average precision (mAP) value of YOLOv7-waterbird was 67.3%, which was approximately 5% higher than that of the baseline model. Furthermore, the improved method achieved a recall of 87.9% (precision = 85%) and 79.1% for small waterbirds (defined as pixels less than 40 × 40), suggesting a better performance for small object detection than the original method. This algorithm could be used by the administration of protected areas or other groups to monitor waterbirds with higher accuracy using existing surveillance cameras and can aid in wildlife conservation to some extent.