Reliability of Critical Infrastructure Networks: Challenges

Abstract

Critical infrastructures form a technological skeleton of our world by providing us with water, food, electricity, gas, transportation, communication, banking, and finance. Moreover, as urban population increases, the role of infrastructures become more vital. In this paper, we adopt a network perspective and discuss the ever growing need for fundamental interdisciplinary study of critical infrastructure networks, efficient methods for estimating their reliability, and cost-effective strategies for enhancing their resiliency. We also highlight some of the main challenges arising on this way, including cascading failures, feedback loops, and cross-sector interdependencies.