Description
Lewis (computer science, US Naval Postgraduate School) attempts to establish a scientific method for analyzing where funding should go for protecting the country's critical infrastructure from terrorist attack. He argues that by seeing infrastructure as a network of nodes, one can use network theory to identify critical nodes that need to be protected through model-based vulnerability analysis. He shows how to apply this model-based vulnerability to infrastructures of water, power and energy, information, and the monitoring and management networks that control them. The CD-ROM contains supplementary audio and video lectures, as well as the software described in the text. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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A scientific approach to the new field of critical infrastructure protectionThis book offers a unique scientific approach to the new field of critical infrastructure protection: it uses network theory, optimization theory, and simulation software to analyze and understand how infrastructure sectors evolve, where they are vulnerable, and how they can best be protected. The author demonstrates that infrastructure sectors as diverse as water, power, energy, telecommunications, and the Internet have remarkably similar structures. This observation leads to a rigorous approach to vulnerability analysis in all of these sectors. The analyst can then decide the best way to allocate limited funds to minimize risk, regardless of industry sector.The key question addressed in this timely book is: What should be protected and how? The author proposes that the answer lies in allocating a nation's scarce resources to the most critical components of each infra-structure--the so-called critical nodes. Using network theory as a foundation, readers learn how to identifya small handful of critical nodes and then allocate resources to reduce or eliminate risk across the entire sector.A comprehensive set of electronic media is provided on a CD-ROM in the back of the book that supports in-class and self-tutored instruction. Students can copy these professionally produced audio-video lectures onto a PC (Microsoft Windows(r) and Apple Macintosh(r) compatible) for repeated viewing at their own pace. Another unique feature of the book is the open-source software for demonstrating concepts and streamlining the math needed for vulnerability analysis. Updates, as well as a discussion forum, are available from www.CHDS.us.This book is essential for all corporate, government agency, and military professionals tasked with assessingvulnerability and developing and implementing protection systems. In addition, the book is recommended for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students studying national security, computing, and other disciplines where infrastructure security is an issue.
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