Abstract
In recent years, much has been written about the risks inherent to interdependencies among Critical Infrastructures (CIs). These infrastructures have become increasingly automated and interlinked and this linkage between CIs results in a highly complex and dynamic system which increases their vulnerability to cascading and domino effects. Four main types of interdependencies among CIs can be distinguished: physical, cybernetic, geographic and logical. This paper addresses the problematic of physical interdependencies. It presents two types of tools for managing physical interdependencies that were developed by the Centre Risque & Performance (CRP) at the École Polytechnique de Montréal in partnership with some of the CIs present in Montréal and Québec city. More specifically, this paper analysis the physical dependencies of CIs towards the telecommunications and the electrical systems and shows how it is possible to use these tools to identify, characterize and rank the interdependencies among CIs, understand and anticipate domino effects and plan protection and mitigation measures.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Chicheportiche, O.: Méga panne chez France Télécom: la faute à la VoIP?. Silicon.fr November 2 (2004)
Commission de régulation de l’énergie: Rapport d’enquête de la Commission de régulation de l’énergie sur la panne d’électricité du samedi 4 Novembre 2006, Commission de régulation de l’énergie (CRE), February 2007. http://www.see.asso.fr/bulletin/actu/2007/pdf/cre-rapport-8nov.pdf (2007). Accessed 12 Jan 2009
Comparatel: L´explication de la panne de ce week-end chez France Telecom, la VoIP. L’actualité des télécoms November 3 (2004)
Crochet-Damais, A.: Panne Internet en Asie: l’heure du bilan. Le Journal du Net December 30 (2006)
Drothier, Y.: Une panne Internet frappe l’Asie et le Moyen-Orient. Le Journal du Net January 31 (2008)
EU: Protection des infrastructures critiques dans le cadre de la lutte contre le terrorisme”, Communication de la Commission au Conseil et au Parlement Européen, June 2004. http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/fr/lvb/l33259.htm (2004). Accessed 4 June 2008
Guichardet, G.: Early warning system and interdependencies. Master’s thesis, École Polytechnique de Montréal (April 2009)
Lecomte, E.L., Pang, A.W., Russell, J.W.: La tempête de verglas de 1998, Institut de prévention des sinistres catastrophiques (IPSC). http://www.iclr.org/pdf/ice%20storm%20report%20french.pdf (1998). Accessed 14 Jan 2009
Leduc, C.: Panne de BlackBerry: la faute à une mise à jour. Branchez-vous February 13 (2008)
Moteff, J., Copeland, C., Fisher, J.: Critical infrastructures: what makes an infrastructure critical? Report for Congress, The Library of Congress, January 29, 2003. http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/RL31556.pdf (2003). Accessed 4 June 2008
MRNFP: Activité pétrole et produits pétroliers: priorités de rétablissement de distribution en situation d’urgence, Ministère des ressources naturelles, de la faune et des parcs du Québec, Direction du développement des hydrocarbures (Feb 2004)
OCIPEP: Les menaces aux infrastructures essentielles canadiennes, Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness, Research and Development Directorate, March 12, 2003. http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/research-recherche/result/alt_formats/pdf/ocipep_f.pdf (2003a). Accessed 4 June 2008
OCIPEP: Infrastructures essentielles nationales”, Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness, Research and Development Directorate, December 2003. http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/research-recherche/result/alt_formats/pdf/ocipep_f.pdf (2003b). Accessed 4 June 2008
O’Reilly, G.P., Kelvin Chu, C.-H.: Optimal deployment of power reserves across telecom critical infrastructures. Bell Labs Tech. J. 12(4), 127-142 (2008)
Peerenboom, J.P., Fisher R.E., Rinaldi, S.M., Terrence, K.K.: Studying the chain reaction. Electric Perspectives, January/February (2002)
PSEPC: Panne d’électricité en Ontario et aux États-Unis—Impacts sur les infrastructures essentielles, Public Security and Emergency Preparedness Canada, Document IA06-002, August 2006. http://www.securitepublique.gc.ca/prg/em/_fl/ont-us-power-f.pdf (2006). Accessed 14 Jan 2009
Québec (Province), Nicolet, R.: Facing the unforeseeable: Lessons from the ice storm of ‘98: report of the Commission scientifique et technique chargée d’analyser les événements relatifs à la tempête de verglas survenue du 5 au 9 janvier 1998, ainsi que l’action des divers intervenants. Québec: The Commission (1999)
Rinaldi, S.M., Peerenboom, J.P., Terrence, K.K.: Identifying, understanding, and analyzing critical infrastructures interdependencies. IEEE Control Systems Magazine, December (2001)
Robert, B., de Calan, R., Morabito, L.: Modelling interdependencies among critical infrastructures. Int. J. Crit. Infrastruct. 4(4), 392-408 (2008)
Robert, B., Morabito, L.: The operational tools for managing physical interdependencies among critical infrastructures. Int. J. Crit. Infrastruct. 4(4), 353-367 (2008)
Robert, B., Morabito, L.: Réduire la vulnérabilité des infrastructures essentielles: Guide méthodologique, 62 pp. Les Éditions Tec&Doc, Lavoisiers, France (2009)
Robert, B., Morabito, L., Quenneville, O.: The preventive approach to risks related to interdependent infrastructures. Int. J. Emerg. Manag. 4(2), 166-182 (2007)
SPQ: Trousse promotionnelle pour les entreprises et autres organisations, Sécurité Publique Québec. http://www.msp.gouv.qc.ca/secivile/secivile.asp?txtSection=semaine&txtCategorie=trousses&txtNomAutreFichier=trousse_entreprises.htm (2008). Accessed 14 Jan 2009
Statistics Canada. (1998). The St. Lawrence River valley 1998 ice storm: Maps and facts. Catalogue no. 16F0021XIB.
U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force: Final report on the August 14, 2003 blackout in the United States and Canada: causes and recommendations, April 2004, https://reports.energy.gov/ Accessed 7 Dec 2009
Vis, S.: ‘Black-out’ à répétition: Quelles conséquences? Les échos de la bourse, November 20 (2003)
Acknowledgement
The results presented in this paper are the outcome of work by the Centre risque & performance at École Polytechnique de Montréal. They were developed in the City of Montréal and tested and validated in the city of Québec. The CRP’s research project benefited from funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and from Public Safety Canada (PSC) within the Joint Infrastructure Interdependencies Research Program (JIIRP) and from the active participation of the following partners from the key public and private organizations in Montréal:
• Bell Canada
• GazMétro
• Hydro-Québec
• Ministère de la sécurité publique du Québec
• Ministère des transports du Québec
• Public Security and Emergency Preparedness Canada
• Tecsult
• City of Montréal (Water and Sewer System, Emergency Preparedness Centre)
• City of Québec (Water and Sewer System, Transportation System, Telecommunications System, Emergency Preparedness Office)
The contributions of all of these partners, both technical and financial, allowed the center to collect the data we needed to develop concrete tools for managing risk including those presented in this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Robert, B., Morabito, L. (2010). Dependency on Electricity and Telecommunications. In: Lukszo, Z., Deconinck, G., Weijnen, M. (eds) Securing Electricity Supply in the Cyber Age. Topics in Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3594-3_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3594-3_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-3593-6
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-3594-3
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)