IT Baseline Protection Manual - The Information Warfare Site

Threats Catalogue Deliberate Acts Remarks
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T 4.2 Failure of internal supply networks
Supply network failure, such as:
- electricity,
- telephone and
- air conditioning / ventilation
can all lead to immediate breakdown of the IT operation. Disruption can also
be caused by failure in the following areas:
- heating,
- water,
- feeders for fire-fighting water,
- sewarage,
- pneumatic dispatch,
- gas,
- reporting and control devices (intruders; fire; housekeeping control
engineering) and
- intercom systems
These disruptions may occur with a substantial delay in regard to the original
failure.
These networks are mutually dependent to various degrees, so that
malfunctions in any one of them could also have an impact on others.
Examples:
- Power failure does not only have a direct impact on IT processes, but also
affects other networks using electrically operated automatic controls. Even
sewerage pipes may be provided with electric lifting pumps.
- By means of modern telecommunications facilities (ISDN technology), it is
possible to build up LANs. Glitches within the telecommunications
network will automatically affect the pertinent LAN.
- An outage of water supply may impair the functioning of air conditioning
systems.
- Failure of the air conditioning system can impair utilisation of the building
due to excessive heating or cooling, or on account of insufficient air
exchange.
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IT-Baseline Protection Manual: Oktober 2000