Assessing Cascading Effects for Critical Infrastructures

Thursday, September 26, 2024 | 02:0 pm (CET) | Room: Z.1.09 | Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt

Dr. Stefan Schauer | Austrian Institute of Technology

Abstract: The technical and processual interconnection among critical infrastructures (CIs) has drastically increased over the last decade, amplified by the ongoing digitalization in this sector. With the application of Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, CIs have evolved into highly complex ecosystems, becoming more and more dependent on each other. In such ecosystems, an incident happening within one infrastructure is no longer limited to this infrastructure alone but can have wide-ranging effects on dependent CIs as well as the society as a whole. The cascading effects of such incidents show that it is nowadays no longer sufficient to analyze and assess risks from the perspective of one organization alone. In this talk, we will take a closer look at these interdependencies within and among CIs and how to capture them in a structured way. Further, we will discuss a modelling and simulation approach that is able to describe on an abstract level, how much a critical entity (either a technical component or an entire infrastructure) is affected by an incident. This approach will set the basis for describing how the effects can propagate through the network of interdependent critical systems and infrastructures and for assessing the overall consequences of an incident as part of CI risk management.

Bio: Stefan Schauer is Senior Scientist at the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) and is an experienced researcher in the fields of risk and security management in the Center for Digital Safety & Security (DSS). He studied Computer Science at the University of Klagenfurt and received his PhD in Theoretical Physics form the Technical University of Vienna, analyzing the security of quantum cryptographic protocols. Since 2022, he is Thematic Coordinator of the Dependable Systems Engineering (DSE) group at AIT. His research focus lies on risk management and risk assessment for critical infrastructures as well as the integration of security architectures for such organizations. In this context, he is working on novel risk assessment methodologies and processes to tackle future challenges of these infrastructures. Further, he is looking into mathematical concepts for the identification and handling of cascading effects within an organization and among critical infrastructures on a national scale. As part of his research, he is author and editor of three Springer books and has published over 80 papers in journals and conferences.

Stefan Schauer is also actively engaged in national and European research projects, has coordinated one of the last FP7 projects, HyRiM, and was the main lead for AIT in the recent H2020 INFRA projects PRAETORIAN, PRECINCT and SAURON; additionally, he was leading several FFG-funded KIRAS projects. Currently, he is working in the Horizon Europe project SUNRISE and the Digital Europe project CyberSecPro as well as the FFG KIRAS project MERCURIUS.