Dr. Myriam Dunn Cavelty is lecturer and head of the new risks research unit at the Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich. Dunn Cavelty holds a degree in political science, modern history, and international law from the University of Zurich. She specializes in security studies and the impact of the information revolution on security policy issues in particular (other topics: information operations, cyber-terrorism, critical infrastructure protection). Along with various articles and book chapters on the topic, she is the author of Cyber-Security and Threat Politics: US Efforts to Secure the Information Age (Routledge, 2008) as well as co-editor of three recent volumes: The Resurgence of the State: Trend and Processes in Cyberspace Governance (Asghate: 2007); Power and Security in the Information Age: Investigating the Role of the State in Cyberspace (Asghate: 2007); and Securing the Homeland: Critical Infrastructure, Risk, and (In) Security (Routledge 2008).
Webpage: http://www.crn.ethz.ch/ and http://www.myriamdunn.com/
Critical (Information) Infrastructure Protection:
History, Trends, and Concepts
Abstract:Cyber-threats are a "new" kind of threat to national security and to the very foundations of developed societies. The worst possible consequences of risks created by information and communication technologies manifest themselves in the possible failure of so-called critical infrastructures, which are systems and assets whose incapacity or destruction would have a debilitating impact on the national security and the economic and social well-being of a state. Driven by a growing concern for the potential vulnerability of networked societies and by the increasing number of disruptions in the cyber-domain, many countries have taken steps to better understand the vulnerabilities and threats that their (information) infrastructure is subject to, and have proposed measures for the protection of these assets. This presentation will talk about the beginnings of the cyber-threat story and then discuss how the issue has evolved over the years and what the trends seem to be. Further, it will examine the threat spectrum in terms of actors, technologies, and tools. It will further look at state responses and discuss the differences between them. This will help to characterize the cyber-threat and talk about the consequences for state and non-state actors.
Related material:
http://www.crn.ethz.ch/
and http://www.myriamdunn.com/
