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The Action Security of Critical Networked Infrastructures (SCNI) aims at facilitating the description, assessment and governance from the security point of view of networked infrastructures, including information systems, communication networks, electricity and other energy networks and water networks. The main interest is in cross-border and European-wide issues. The action concentrates on the cybersecurity and topological aspects of infrastructures and their interdependencies, and studies their vulnerabilities (at the technological and system levels), the potential malicious threats that might affect them, the related detrimental attacks, and the countermeasures that can be put in place for securing those systems. It also studies the conditions and potential means for making decisions on security matters, estimating the impact of these decision, and facilitating the interaction among the stakeholders.
The focus is on providing policy makers and the stakeholders of critical infrastructures with information and instruments for a better understanding of the risks, for the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the security issues, for the determination of the security condition of systems. From the technological perspective, the action studies the security of industrial control systems (e.g. SCADA, protection and defence systems, monitoring systems), of communication infrastructures (e.g. Internet protocols and WAN), and their application in concrete industrial environments (e.g. electric power).
Keywords: critical infrastructures, critical information infrastructures, control systems, telecommunication systems, security, cybersecurity, security risk assessment, security information exchange, vulnerability, malicious threats, malicious attacks, interdependencies, risk governance
Grid Coordination Action The vulnerability of the electrical infrastructure appears to be increasing due to rising demand, hectic transactions, a growing number of stakeholders, and the complexity of controls, as made patent by the recent major blackouts in Europe and North America. Although these events do not seem to have been influenced by malicious acts, existing vulnerabilities could be exploited by malicious threats in the future. The GRID Coordination Action seeks to establish consensus at the European level on the key issues involved in power systems vulnerabilities and on the relevant defence methodologies, in view of the challenges driven by the transformation of the European power infrastructure. GRID aims to assess the needs of the EU power sector from these perspectives, so as to establish a Roadmap for collaborative research in view of the forthcoming 7th framework programme. The objective is twofold: - Establish the most urgent and significant R&D; challenges to be tackled at the EU level;
- Raise awareness of the security concerns at the policy, industrial, and academic level.
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SCNI
