Critical Information Infrastructure

Critical Information Infrastructure

Critical Information Infrastructure

Overview of Critical Information Infrastructure in relation to cyber crime: [1]U.S. critical information infrastructure relies on a limited number of large computer networks for the exchange of data, including the Internet, Internet II, and MILNET. Each of these networks is composed of wired and wireless telecommunications systems and uses different protocols for packet switching to transmit or receive data between devices. Each network also employs different information security standards and has different data/server exchange capacities. Although each system is reasonably safeguarded and has technological redundancies to guard against catastrophic failure, they are all subject to malfunctioning and disruption. Cyber attacks occur in many ways that can involve online combined with offline activities. On January 30, 2008, an undersea telecommunications cable in the Mediterranean Sea was severed, slowing Internet access dramatically for businesses and people in India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, along with several nations in the Middle East. In the following weeks, four more underwater cables were cut, two of which were severed in several places. Damage resulted in severe Internet bandwidth losses within these countries; however, Iran completely lost its Internet connectivity for approximately five days. Clearly the loss of cabling, even if only temporary, can have major disruptive effects on people and organizations that depend on critical information infrastructure.

Resources

Notes and References

1. By Samuel C. McQuade, III

See Also

  • Types of Cybercrime
  • Cybercriminal

Further Reading

Coleman, K. (2008, April 25). Cyber-attacks and cyber-disasters: Are you prepared? Retrieved from TechNewsWorld Web site: (internet link) technewsworld .com/story/62725.html?welcome=1209755132; Cordesman, A.H. (2001). Cyberthreats, information warfare, and critical infrastructure protection: Defending the U.S. homeland (CSIS).Westport, CT: Praeger; Hyslop, M. (2007). Critical information infrastructures: Resilience and protection. New York: Springer; Committee on Critical Information Infrastructure Protection and the Law, National Research Council. (2004). In S.D. Personick & C.A. Patterson (Eds), Critical information infrastructure protection and the law: An overview of key issues. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.


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