Dyson College of Arts and Sciences

In such a world where the threats facing these advanced digital technologies were to become realized, and attacks against them successful, the services that we depend on as a nation would become unavailable, leading to potentially harmful consequences. Such was life during the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 throughout some northeast U.S. neighborhoods, when there were no operating electric trains, subways, or traffic stop lights, no cellular-based telecommunications, no electric-based air conditioning or heating (HVAC) systems, no operating cash machines or any web-based entertainment or e-Commerce activities, and so on. In the case of the aftermath associated with Hurricane Sandy, residents made due without access to electric power and concentrated more on physical safety and locating fresh food and gasoline to power the thousands of electric generators that were put use so that some semblance of normalcy could be achieved. In a not-so-distant future world where cyber-attacks against our electric grid or nuclear power plants or air traffic control system might result in their inability to function, the consequences would be far more reaching and catastrophic. Such attacks could lead to massive social disruption as the devastation caused by the aftereffects associated with an outage of our national electric grid (partial or otherwise), or disrupted air traffic control, or inoperable fresh water pumps and sewerage treatment facilities, not to mention the complete disruption caused by a successful cyber-attack on our ability to communicate due to inoperable telecommunications networks. Such disruptions, while tolerable and extremely expensive for short-term disruptions, are catastrophic if they were to persist beyond days and into weeks, or months. The nation's infrastructure, consisting of physical assets, communication networks, specialized computing systems for industrial control, and the various organizational structures and operating models that effectively and efficiently operate these vital infrastructure components (some of which are owned by multinational corporations) are vital to sustaining public welfare, national safety, prosperity and overall well-being. Any interruption in critical systems serving the public at large has an immediate effect on the public's confidence, which over the decades has been steadfast. 2 The Designated Critical Infrastructure Sectors and Sector-Specific Agencies In early February 2013, the White House, recognizing the need to gain control over the critical components forming the critical national infrastructure, issued a Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) entitled, "Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience" which advanced a 'national unity of effort to strengthen and maintain secure, functioning, and resilient critical infrastructure.' 60

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