Introduction

Abstract

Security research as a practical discipline has a long-standing history. Faced with myriad hazards throughout its past, mankind has developed sophisticated means to counter such threats. The latter include natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and fires, but also encompass man-made hazards such as military aggression, terrorist attacks or threats resulting from the malicious application of technological developments. Since the end of the Cold War major armed conflicts between nations of the Western hemisphere have become highly unlikely and genuinely different security issues have become the focus of concern. The terrorist attacks of 2001 against the United States, the train bombings of Madrid in 2004 and the bombings of London in 2005 were horrific embodiments of a new security environment that has evolved on a global scale. One could list numerous other examples of both executed attacks and successfully deterred attempts from around the world. Our modern industrial societies are interlinked with infrastructure networks, providing citizens with mobility, energy and information flows, which also open the door to a whole new dimension of vulnerabilities. Security research, once anything but a practical discipline with a capacity for reacting to short-term demands, has in the span of only a few years evolved into an entirely new scientific discipline uniting various fields of research. Today, security research (in Europe) encompasses a broad community of natural/engineering and social sciences.