Background to the research project

The EUKRITIS I project has made it clear that efficient and sustainable protection of critical infrastructures requires close networking of administration, business, private organizations and science at all levels. This closer cooperation is the focus of the follow-up project EUKRITIS II, which aims at the development of a virtual network (information and communication portal) for infrastructure protection. It is necessary to create a platform that enables an intensive but at the same time uncomplicated and organizationally less complex technical exchange for the public duty bearers and operators of critical infrastructure facilities.

Goals of EUKRITIS II

The research project EUKRITIS II deals with interorganizational knowledge management as well as with interdependency analyses for the protection of critical infrastructures. The aim is to make knowledge about Critical Infrastructure Protection accessible and disseminate it. An online portal is to create the necessary networking via social software tools. To facilitate further networking, a knowledge map will be used to show the responsibilities and competencies of experts and those responsible for critical infrastructure protection and to locate them on a map.

Networking

Security-related administrative organizations and critical infrastructure operators are in contact with each other only to the extent required by law. For sustainable and long-term protection of critical infrastructures, administrations and infrastructure operators must cooperate more closely. For the protection of critical infrastructures, a network is being set up that can guarantee an unrestricted exchange between those responsible, independent of time and location specifications. Therefore, it is necessary to create a platform that enables an intensive but at the same time uncomplicated and organizationally little complicated professional exchange for the public duty bearers and operators of critical infrastructure facilities respectively among themselves and with each other.

Online portal

An online portal is to map the necessary networking as well as the interdependency analysis. It promotes a continuous dialog among infrastructure operators, administrations, science, the security industry and other organizations. The actors are enabled to sensitize each other to existing interdependencies and to significantly strengthen their own level of protection by coordinating holistic protection concepts.

Knowledge map

In order to facilitate further networking, a knowledge map will be used to depict the responsibilities and competencies of experts and those responsible in the area of critical infrastructures in the context of the various sectors and to locate them on a map in geo-referenced form. For this purpose, knowledge areas for the identification of organization-specific competencies, i.e. their knowledge profiles, are determined against the background of critical infrastructure protection along the existing divisions into sectors and subsectors.

Interdependency analysis

Against the background of a lack of networking between the actors, the interdependencies between critical infrastructures cannot be estimated at present either. Information on the nature and intensity of interdependencies is not available. This applies especially to the cross-border area. Comparable methods for interdependency analysis are established in some scientific disciplines and shall be transferred to the application area of critical infrastructures in the course of the research project. The method is to be mapped electronically. In this way, interdependency models can be created for specific actor constellations in a scenario-oriented manner. The implementation within the framework of an online portal enables the distributed processing of the steps for the analysis of interdependencies by the actors themselves.

Project partners, funding and data

The EU-funded research project EUKRITIS is carried out by the Chair of Information Systems, Processes and Systems at the University of Potsdam in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior of the State of Brandenburg as consortium leader and other practical partners. Project partners: NBB Netzgesellschaft Berlin Brandenburg mbH & Co.KG, West Pomeranian State Fire Brigade (Poland)
Duration: 2010 - 2011