European Critical Infrastructure Protection

The recent European Council Directive 114/08 requested the EU Member States to perform an assessment aimed at the identification and designation of the so-called European Critical Infrastructures (ECI). Every analysis of the results of the "first round" of identifications and designations has only taken into account the numbers of ECIs effectively designated, consequently leaving aside all of the other elements related to this important path towards a harmonized vision of the "European Security". This work, with its unprecedented approach, focuses on the elements that have maximized or frustrated the ambitious European objectives and on the issues that might have prevented the directive reaching its full potential. Furthermore, the study offers an in-depth perspective on the lessons learned - including those that can be learned from the US pre-post 9/11 CIP policies - as well as an assessment of the state of play of the Member States after the implementation of the directive, together with predictions for future challenges.

External Dimension of the European Union’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Programme: From Neighboring Frameworks to Transatlantic Cooperation provides the basis, methodological framework, and first comprehensive analysis of the current state of the external dimension European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection. The challenges at the EU level are multidimension insofar as identifying, designating and protecting critical infrastructures with the ultimate goal of harmonizing different national policies of the Member States and creating the identity of the European Union in this arena. Modern society has become so reliant on various sectors of critical infrastructure—energy, telecommunications, transport, finance, ICT, and public services—that any disruption may lead to serious failures that impact individuals, society, and the economy. The importance of critical infrastructures grows with the industrial development of global and national communities; their interdependence and resiliency is increasingly important given security threats including terrorism, natural disaster, climate change and pandemic outbreak In the area of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience, the European Union is constantly committed to setting the objectives for the Member States. At the same time, the European Commission promotes the importance of a common approach to Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP), and ensure cooperation beyond the borders of the Union, while also cooperating with neighboring countries, including those soon willing to join the European Union. This book has been structured and written to contribute to current critical infrastructures, resilience policy development and discussions about regional and international cooperation. It serves as a reference for those countries willing to initiate cooperation and that therefore demand deeper knowledge on the security cultures and frameworks of their potential partners. Features: Provides an unprecedented analysis of the national frameworks of 14 neighboring countries of the EU, plus the United States and Canada Overcomes the language barriers to provide an overall picture of the state of play of the countries considered Outlines the shaping of national critical infrastructure protection frameworks to understanding the importance of service stability and continuity Presents guidelines to building a comprehensive and flexible normative framework Addresses the strategic and operational importance of international co-operation on critical infrastructure including efforts in CIP education and training Provides insight to institutions and decision-makers on existing policies and ways to improve the European security agenda The book explains and advocates for establishing stronger, more resilient systems to preserve functionalities at the local, national, and international levels. Security, industry, and policy experts—both practitioners and policy decision-makers—looking for answers will find the solutions they seek within this book.

Seminar paper from the year 2023 in the subject Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: 1,0, University of applied Sciences Regensburg (Angewandte Natur- und Kulturwissenschaften), course: European Politics and Institutions, language: English, abstract: Critical infrastructures are essential for the smooth functioning of highly developed societies, providing crucial services that society heavily relies upon. However, their interconnected and complex nature makes them susceptible to failures and disruptions. The paper analyzes the events and actors that led to the adoption of the European Resilience of Critical EntitiesDirective (RCED) in 2022, which signifies a shift from a "protection" to a "resilience" approach in European legislation. Using the policy cycle framework, the paper examines the initial agenda setting, evaluation of the European Critical Infrastructure Directive (ECID), and the problem definition and agenda setting for the RCED. The evaluation of the ECID reveals implementation weaknesses and emphasizes the need for a more coordinated and comprehensive approach to critical infrastructure protection. Stakeholder consultations and evaluations highlight the importance of updating the ECID to address the interdependencies of critical infrastructures. The European Commission proposes policy options, with a preference for enhancing the resilience of critical entities and ensuring the uninterrupted provision of essential services. However, the concept of resilience in EU legislation needs further clarification. Overall, this paper provides insights into the necessity of critical infrastructure protection and the shift towards a resilience-oriented approach in European legislation.

The present volume aims to provide an overview of the current understanding of the so-called Critical Infrastructure (CI), and particularly the Critical Information Infrastructure (CII), which not only forms one of the constituent sectors of the overall CI, but also is unique in providing an element of interconnection between sectors as well as often also intra-sectoral control mechanisms. The 14 papers of this book present a collection of pieces of scientific work in the areas of critical infrastructure protection. In combining elementary concepts and models with policy-related issues on one hand and placing an emphasis on the timely area of control systems, the book aims to highlight some of the key issues facing the research community.

Critical infrastructures such as energy, communications, banking, transportation, public government services, information technology etc., are more vital to industrialized economies and now than ever before. At the same time, these infrastructures are becoming increasingly dependent on each other, such that failure of one of them can often propagate and result in domino effects. The emerging challenge of Critical (information) Infrastructure Protection (C(I)IP) has been recognized by nearly all member states of the European Union: politicians are increasingly aware of the threats posed by radical political movements and terrorist attacks, as well as the need to develop better response capacity in case of natural disasters. Responses to these facts have been in line with the available resources and possibilities of each country, so that certain countries are already quite advanced in translating the C(I)IP challenge into measures, whereas others are lagging behind. In the international arena of this policy domain, Europe is still in search of a role to play. Recently, CIIP policy has been integrated in the EU Digital Agenda, which testifies to the growing importance of securing resilient infrastructures for the future. This important and most topical Task Force Report is the result of in-depth discussions between experts from different backgrounds and offers a number of observations and recommendations for a more effective and joined-up European policy response to the protection of critical infrastructure. The Task Force was chaired by Bernhard Hämmerli, President of the Swiss Informatics Society. CEPS Senior Research Fellow Andrea Renda served as Rapporteur.--Publisher description.

This collection of papers examines a variety of areas and issues related to, or raised by, the EU Internal Security Strategy. It covers such matters as critical infrastructure protection and environmental crime, from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including law, geography and politics. The EU Internal Security Strategy is becoming increasingly complex as it develops over time, as it has to operate against the background of growing diversity in law enforcement systems across EU member states. It is clear that the EU Internal Security Strategy is, and will continue to be for a long time, a work in progress, not only in its aim to address traditional transnational security threats, but also in reacting to emerging concerns, either in new crime areas or issues arising from the implementation of earlier phases of the strategy. This will be a subject matter for many academic discipline areas for some time to come.

The information infrastructure--comprising computers, embedded devices, networks and software systems--is vital to operations in every sector. Global business and industry, governments, and society itself, cannot function effectively if major components of the critical information infrastructure are degraded, disabled or destroyed. This book contains a selection of 27 edited papers from the First Annual IFIP WG 11.10 International Conference on Critical Infrastructure Protection.

Europe witnessed in the last years a number of significant power contingencies. Some of them revealed the potentiality of vast impact on the welfare of society and triggered pressing questions on the reliability of electric power systems. Society has incorporated electricity as an inherent component, indispensable for achieving the expected level of quality of life. Therefore, any impingement on the continuity of the electricity service would be able to distress society as a whole, affecting individuals, social and economic activities, other infrastructures and essential government functions. It would be possible to hypothesize that in extreme situations this could even upset national security. This book explores the potential risks and vulnerabilities of the European electricity infrastructure, other infrastructures and our society as whole increasingly depend on. The work was initiated by the need to verify the potential effects of the ongoing market and technical transformation of the infrastructure, which is fundamentally changing its operation and performance. The final aim is to set the basis for an appropriate industrial and political European-wide response to the risk challenges.

The European Union has become increasingly involved with protecting the security and safety of European citizens. The latest addition to this new policy space is critical infrastructure protection (CIP) at the EU level. A central role for the EU in guarding against infrastructural breakdowns and preparing for failures may seem self-evident. In reality, the precise nature of such a role remains unclear. Moreover, enthusiastic rhetoric is not always matched by firm action. This article surveys what the EU has in place in terms of CIP and identifies outstanding issues for debate.

Modern critical infrastructures can be considered as large scale Cyber Physical Systems (CPS). Therefore, when designing, implementing, and operating systems for Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP), the boundaries between physical security and cybersecurity are blurred. Emerging systems for Critical Infrastructures Security and Protection must therefore consider integrated approaches that emphasize the interplay between cybersecurity and physical security techniques. Hence, there is a need for a new type of integrated security intelligence i.e., Cyber-Physical Threat Intelligence (CPTI). This book presents novel solutions for integrated Cyber-Physical Threat Intelligence for infrastructures in various sectors, such as Industrial Sites and Plants, Air Transport, Gas, Healthcare, and Finance. The solutions rely on novel methods and technologies, such as integrated modelling for cyber-physical systems, novel reliance indicators, and data driven approaches including BigData analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Some of the presented approaches are sector agnostic i.e., applicable to different sectors with a fair customization effort. Nevertheless, the book presents also peculiar challenges of specific sectors and how they can be addressed. The presented solutions consider the European policy context for Security, Cyber security, and Critical Infrastructure protection, as laid out by the European Commission (EC) to support its Member States to protect and ensure the resilience of their critical infrastructures. Most of the co-authors and contributors are from European Research and Technology Organizations, as well as from European Critical Infrastructure Operators. Hence, the presented solutions respect the European approach to CIP, as reflected in the pillars of the European policy framework. The latter includes for example the Directive on security of network and information systems (NIS Directive), the Directive on protecting European Critical Infrastructures, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the Cybersecurity Act Regulation. The sector specific solutions that are described in the book have been developed and validated in the scope of several European Commission (EC) co-funded projects on Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP), which focus on the listed sectors. Overall, the book illustrates a rich set of systems, technologies, and applications that critical infrastructure operators could consult to shape their future strategies. It also provides a catalogue of CPTI case studies in different sectors, which could be useful for security consultants and practitioners as well.