Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) & Resilience
Critical infrastructure (CI) is a term used to describe assets that are essential for the functioning of a society and economy. The incapacitation or destruction of CI would have a weakling or disastrous effect on security, national economy, public health or safety. The complex, interconnected and often interdependent nature of critical infrastructures increases the risk of a disaster-causing systemic failure in the region, country or globally. Main designing and operational procedures related to critical infrastructure (CI) safeguarding are called Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP). Hence, Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) is a vital activity for every society. Due to social responsibilities and mixed ownerships, the building of CIP requires governments and private sectors to work in partnership.
Classical Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) concept is usually divided into four stages: prevention, detection, response, and mitigation of consequences over the life span of the infrastructure. CIP approach covers protection against physical and cyber threats and incidents, taking into consideration also systemic security management issues, interconnections and the cascading effects. Following is a typical CIP concept example:
Though various new CIP measures are constantly developed and implemented, malicious forces always come up with innovative ways to attack, breach and disrupt operation of critical infrastructures. Risk assessment has advanced significantly over years, but risk-based solutions tend to focus on assessing and strengthening components of complex systems under specific threat scenarios. Therefore, as the complement to CIP, the resilience approach is in use to fortify critical infrastructures. The US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) defines resilience as “the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and more successfully adapt to adverse events.”
In handling the CIP and CI resilience topics, INIS has adopted the EU and NATO guidance as the reference platform, expanding the interdependence between security, mechanical & electrical engineering and information technologies (IT) as the key segments. Comparative analysis of current situation in Europe and the world is periodically performed, rendering related CIP measures and activities and providing suggestions for creation of CI resilience policy and solutions. The situation in the Republic of Serbia in also closely followed, in particular since the Law on Critical Infrastructure (Zakon o kritičnoj infrastrukturi) has been adopted in 2018.
Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) & Resilience is a segment of Security as multidisciplinary science and INIS actively cooperates in CIP and resilience activities worldwide. Furthermore, INIS has prepared relevant special & custom courses, as well as corresponding optional areas/subjects for studies of Law, Security and other areas of specialization in close cooperation with established and well known Universities associated with INIS. The organization of all INIS activities related to CI Protection & Resilience is considered essential for uninterrupted operation of relevant CI and, therefore, covers all levels and phases from design to exploitation and maintenance.
INIS selected references:
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Todorovic B., Bletas A., Resilience planning for critical infrastructure linked to “One Belt One Road” initiative in Balkans and Greece, The Belt and Road: The Balkans Perspective – Political and Security Aspects, University of Belgrade – Faculty of Security Studies, ISBN 978-86-80144-11-5, Belgrade, Serbia, 2016
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Srdjevic B., Srdjevic Z., Todorovic B., Simulating Reservoir System Operation Under Given Scenarios to Determine Operating Policy with the ‘Good’ Resilience, Resilience and Risk – Methods and Application in Environment, Cyber and Social Domains, Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Resilience-Based Approaches to Critical Infrastructure Safeguarding, ISBN 978-94-024-1122-5 (HB), Azores, Portugal, 26–29 June 2016
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Todorovic B., Trifunovic D., Jonev K., Filipovic M., Chapter 22 – Contribution to Enhancement of Critical Infrastructure Resilience in Serbia, Resilience and Risk – Methods and Application in Environment, Cyber and Social Domains, Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Resilience-Based Approaches to Critical Infrastructure Safeguarding, ISBN 978-94-024-1122-5 (HB), Azores, Portugal, 26–29 June 2016
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Todorovic B., The One Belt, One Road Initiative Related Critical Infrastructure Protection at a Crossroads in Balkans; The New Silk Road: European Perspective – Security challenges/risks within the Initiative 16+1, University of Belgrade – Faculty of Security Studies, ISBN 978-86-80144-28-3, Belgrade, Serbia, 2018
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Todorovic B., Security Aspects Assessment of Critical Infrastructures in the Republic of Greece within the Framework of Security Risks Analysis Related to the Project “One Belt And Road” – Initiative 16 + 1, Study within the project “One Belt One Road Risk assessment” conducted by Centre for National and International Security in cooperation with Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (October 2018) & Keynote speech at the International Round Table “One Belt One Road /Economy-Security-Politics”, Belgrade, Serbia, 3 December 2018
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Todorovic B., Trifunovic D., Security Science as a Scientific Discipline – Technological Aspects, Security Science Journal, ISSN: 2737-9493, Vol. 1 No.1 (2020), p. 9-20, DOI: https://doi.org/10.37458/ssj.1.1.1
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Todorovic, B., Trifunovic, D., Todorovic, M., Markovic, M., Operation and Maintenance Issues Related to Critical Infrastructure Protection in the Process Industry Domain, Processing ’22 – 35th International congress on process industry, Society for Process Engineering within SMEITS (Serbian Union of Mechanical and Electrical Engineers and Technicians); June 1–3, 2022, Belgrade, Serbia
