Volume 3 nr 1 / 2011 - Academia Oamenilor de Stiinta din Romania

114 Liviu Muresan, Septimiu CaceuAccording to the documents of the European Commission, critical infrastructuresinclude: Installations and networks in the energy sector (especially the installationsfor producing electricity, oil and gas, installations for storage and refineries,transport and distribution systems); Communication and information (telecommunications, radio transmissionsystems, programs, the information materials and networks, including the Internetetc.);Finance (the banking sector, the stock market and the investments); Health care sector (hospitals, care equipments for patients and bloodbanks, pharmaceutics laboratories and products, emergency services, searchingand saving services); Food sector (security, production means, distribution and agro-alimentaryindustry);Water supply (reserves, storage, treatment and distribution systems); Transport (airports, ports, rail ways, mass transit networks, traffic controlsystems); Production, storage and transport of dangerous substances (chemical,biological, radiological and nuclear materials); Administration (basic services, installations, information networks, assets,important places, national monuments). Those infrastructures belong to the publicor private sector. This is why, in the conception of the European Commission, thepublic authority has to take the responsibility for consolidating and protectingthese infrastructures.To this, modern communication networks are added, including the Internet, thecomputer networks and the radio navigation through satellite.Due to interconnections and inter-conditioning, an attack on one criticalinfrastructure can have an effect, as “domino effect” on other criticalinfrastructures, amplifying, sometimes dramatically, the consequences.This interdependence brings about a significant rising of the vulnerabilities of theentire system and of all critical infrastructures. Therefore, it is highly possible,that paradoxically, in parallel to the process of European integration, the numberof critical infrastructures rises. This is yet another very important conclusion forthe analysis of critical infrastructures, with all their vulnerabilities and the threatsthey are facing continuous proliferation.Copyright © Editura Academiei Oamenilor de Știință din România, 2011Watermark Protected