Critical Infrastructure
Introduction
Infrastructure plays a vital role in the economic, social and political development of any nation in the world. Essentially, adequate state-of-the-art infrastructure in the form of road networks, railway transport system, ports, energy, aviation is needed for integration of a country’s economy with other economies across the globe (Babatunde 2020). They are essential for economic development and elimination of the number of poverty cases in a country. proper infrastructure helps in linking one country with other economies of the world. For example, roads and railways link different countries through the transport of various goods. From manufacturing companies to aviation, it is paramount that adequate protection and security of all critical infrastructure sectors are maintained at the highest standards. This can be realized only if disaster preparedness, response and recovery are kept at the top of the priority list.
Critique international agreements on critical infrastructure protection.
Various systems of infrastructure such as power plans, air traffic control systems, hospitals, just to mention a few of them, they majorly depend on computer technology (Salam et al..2019). This exposes our infrastructures to cases of cyber-attacks. Cyber attackers disrupt the computer systems and therefore gain control of the whole infrastructure. They carry out these activities remotely without having physical access to the infrastructure. Some examples of viruses that are used by the attackers are the slammer or the Stuxnet.
Infrastructure can also be damaged by the secondary effects of cyber-attacks. Taking an example of the slammer worm, it was designed to multiply in the host, making its effects to be adverse in a short period (Fioravanti 2016). This caused a surge in the internet traffic and disabled the packet routers to meet their demand. In recent, a malicious program has been identified by the experts which target the critical infrastructure. The malicious program, Stuxnet, has been found to target the industrial systems and causing alternations to the programmed industrial controls.
Various remedies have been put in place both in academic and industrial research. Some of these remedies have made the infrastructure better and safer, which means it is free from the attackers. The advancement in computer technology makes it easier for the attacker to become easily identifiable. The following are some of the international agreements that have been put in place to protect the critical infrastructure.
Existing conventions and laws.
It is first important to discuss on the already existing conventional laws that have already been implemented before discussing the additional laws that could be put in place. according to history, several international conventions that pertain the cybersecurity were obtained from international laws that relate to different fields.
- Convention on cyber-crime. According to Patel (2020), the best-identified effort to regulate the cases of cyber-attacks is the conventions on cybercrime. It was written down by the council of Europe. It was then adapted November 2001 in Budapest. It had already been signed and ratified by thirty states by October 2010. During this time, the other sixteen states were signing the convention. The convention came into existence in the united states in 2001 and was ratified in the year 2006. It came into force in the united states starting from 1st January 2007. The convention on cybercrime is a wide document with a common objective which is to pursue a policy that will protect the society from cybercrimes. The convention defines the policy in the face of four offences.
The convention specifies in articles 2 and 1 under title one that measures should be taken at the national level regarding the availability, confidentiality and integrity of computer data. These measures include data interference, illegal interception, system interference and misuse of devices. The convention confirms that the actions that are supposed to be taken by a majority of the cybersecurity attacks should be disallowed by the national laws. Its main objective is not to define new legislation, but to provide a framework that harmonizes the already existing national laws.
The second convention deals with forgery and fraud in the computer systems. This majorly focuses on financial crimes which are facilitated by the exploitation of computer devices.
The third convention focusses on content protection. This part mostly deals with the control and exchange of digital artefacts that depict pornography in children.
The fourth convention broadly focuses on possible harmonization of the copyright laws that are present in the digital content distribution and the abuses related to it. The international agreements holding these laws are that if someone happens to go against them, they may face serious consequences such as being put in prison.
- Protecting cyberspace as a national asset act of 2010. The act was put in place in June 2010 by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, joined by Sens. Susan Collins and Tom Carper. This act specifies the provisions for what would happen if a major crisis occurred on the critical infrastructure. This act would grant the ability to the US president to have control or deactivate some internet parts in case of an emergency. The president would have the ability to cause a cyber emergency. Companies that are identified to be critical infrastructure providers in case of such an emergency, would have to abide by the emergency measure that has been put in place by the homeland security department. If it does not follow the guidelines, the company will have to face fines. Critical infrastructure providers could capture a large number of companies. These companies do not only include the internet service providers but the search engine operators too. Companies that are considered as critical infrastructure providers are to be listed by the department of homeland security.
- Key Escrow and Wiretapping Orders. Cryptographic materials have been equated with other dual-use products for a long period with products such as weapons and munitions (Haber 2019). This has brought about the perception that violent wars can be minimized by regulating weapon sales and that online crime could be minimized by putting restrictions on cryptographic tools that are available to the users of the intent.
Key escrow roles that are provided by encrypted electronic communication is a trusted third party with the keys that are used to encode the message. when discussing the key escrow law, the third party that is entrusted in this case is a governmental agency or organization. The notion of digital wiretaps is also closely related to the key escrow. As its name defines it, they define a whole class of primitives that can allow a governmental organization to eavesdrop on communications.
According to Anderson et al., key escrow laws and wiretapping laws are not likely to prevent online crimes. They otherwise expose alienating regular users to risk. Some internet attacks use encrypted communications for making coordination between the attacking entities who know the endpoint of the communication id the most essential part in understanding the conversation Semitics.
Key escrow would only apply to commercial software’s that are developed by in a specific jurisdiction. On the other hand, criminals would either develop their protocols or software or develop open-source software outside the jurisdiction in question.
Recent incidences of natural and man-made infrastructure damage abroad.
After the earthquakes that took place in Indonesia, floods in japan and volcanic eruptions that took place in Guatemala, many people have lost their lives from natural disasters that have occurred on the infrastructure. We will focus on the recent natural disasters that have occurred, taking 2018 as the recent year.
There was a case in late July where a total of 126 wildfires affected the coast of Greece. The fires caused a lot of deaths to the victims who were caught up in the fire calamity. Some drowned in the sea when attempting to escape from the fire.
Another natural disaster was an earthquake that happened in Papua New Guinea. a severe earthquake struck the Papua New Guinea province in February. This later caused some landslides following the earthquake in the area. Around five hundred thousand people were affected by the natural disaster.
In North Korea, there flood cases in the same year following heavy rains. The rains caused floods and landslides which caused damage to above 800 buildings, leaving the owners in a homeless condition. This was per a report that was issued by the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies.
Another case of natural disasters was heat waves in Pakistan. This was after a temperature rise in the area that went up to 104 degrees for several days in May. The excess heat caused power cuts. This was the month of Ramadan when most Muslims abstain foods and drinks during the day. Majority of the people who were affected by the excess heat were young children and the elderly.
In September, there were floods in Nigeria that led to the loss of more than 200 lives. More than half a million people were displaced by the floods and more than 13000 homes destroyed. A third of Nigeria’s states were affected by the floods, which brought the total number of people who were affected by the floods to two million.
Another disaster was reported in Indonesia involving an earthquake. The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.9. it struck the Indonesian island of Lombok and Bali, which neighbored Lombok. It was then followed by another earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 in late July.
Another case was a volcanic eruption in Guatemala. This took place in early June. The areas surrounding the volcanic site were then engulfed by the volcanic flow components which comprised of a mixture of volcanic rocks and hot gases that moved at a speed of 90 miles in one hour. The volcanic eruption caused damage to a lot of infrastructures and led to the loss of 425 lives.
In 2010, there was a severe earthquake, commonly known as the Haiti earthquake. It took place in 12th January 2010 on the West Indian island of Hispaniola, which comprised of two countries; Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The most affected country was Haiti, which occupied a third of the western island. The earthquake caused massive deaths to the people who lived in the area. The total number of people who were recorded to have died from the earthquake was 300,000. Survivors were displaced from the area.
On March 2015, there were heavy rains that occurred in the northern chile of the Atacama Desert, which one of the driest places in the earth. According to the government’s record, the Copiapo river had been dry for a total of 17 years. After the rain, it was filled with plenty of water and even overflowed. Due to the rocky ground surface of the desert, the massive water masses were not adequately absorbed by the ground. This led to mudflows that were directed to the Copiapo and Antofagasta cities in the Atacama and Antofagasta regions. The government estimated a total loss of USD 1.5 billion. Similarly, the eastern pacific was fueled by the El Nino in 2015.
Besides natural disasters, there are still man-made disasters that cause damage to the natural infrastructure. They are caused by human beings, hence not natural. Taking an example, in 2015, about 7000 people died after a boat carrying migrants the Libyan coast sunk in the Mediterranean Sea. Another case was Saudi Arabia. It was man-made damage where a pilot committed suicide by crashing a plane he was flying and taking 149 more lives with him. In October, a jet crashed in Egypt after a bomb that was in exploded. It killed a total of 224 people.
Another man-made disaster was a fire and an explosion in Mexico on a drilling platform in the Bay of Campeche. This explosion recorded the largest man-made loss in the region. In another instance that occurred in November, a dam that was in an iron ore mine burst in minas Gerais in brazil and caused adverse effects on the infrastructure.
SLP in-depth, final report.
Every part of the infrastructure is relevant and each has a role to play. In the United States, there are various infrastructure sectors such as banking and finance, transportation, power, information and communication, emergency services, fire departments, and public works among others. Each of these infrastructure sectors plays a very critical role in the running of the economy and improvement of the quality of lives of all citizens. Each of these infrastructure sectors is important for the county’s faster economic growth and development, and alleviation of poverty. Noteworthy, the level of infrastructural development will be a key determiner of the U.S economic growth in the future hence the need for new measures to address the plethora of challenge’s facing the country’s critical infrastructure protection.
Numerous scholars and researchers have raised concerns that the frequency and severity of critical infrastructure incidents are set to increase in the future, and this growth is associated with a wide array of challenges. while efforts are being made to address these challenges, there is still no unified national capability to support the protection of the country’s infrastructure. Lack of proper understanding of the inter-relationships between the various aspects of the country’s infrastructure. This is the first notable challenge facing CIP in the U.S. There is no adequate knowledge on how the various elements of the infrastructure mesh together and ways in which these element functions and affect one another. Until the policymakers, private sector, the government and other stakeholders clearly understands the nature of these interrelationships, the U.S will never be able to effectively achieve the goals and objectives of critical infrastructure protection.
CIP plays a key role in determining vulnerabilities and analyzing alternatives to prepare for unforeseen disasters and incidents. They focus on improving the capability to detect and warn of impending attacks on, and system failures within, the critical elements of the national infrastructure.
Essentially, critical infrastructure is multifaceted phenomena that is affected by various classes of threats and vulnerabilities. These threats fall into three major classes:
- Natural
Natural forces such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, natural fires, land shifting, volcanic eruptions and floods pose major threats to the critical infrastructure in the U.S. Noteworthy, the destructive impact of these natural forces is most significant on weaker infrastructure that lacks the much-needed resilience to absorb disturbances while also retaining their function and structural capacity.
Human-caused
Other than the natural disasters, numerous other human-caused threats are facing critical infrastructure in the U.S. These include terrorist activities, riots, product tampering, bombings and explosions, fraud and theft as well as economic espionage among other financial crimes. With the heightening threat of terrorism and cybercrime in the world, today, the U.S must put in place CIP measures that increase the resilience of its infrastructure.
Accidental/Technical
These include events such as accidents, failure of power-grid and water-treatment facilities, rupture of water-main, and numerous other disasters of omission and commission.
Importance of international agreements regarding infrastructure protection in light of middle east conflicts.
The united nations play vital roles in the context of global governance. As people and nations continue becoming interconnected, there develops a need for international management. He referred to some global concerns such as terrorism, climatic changes, economic crisis and refugee movement and said that they all require international management. The middle east is graced by these challenges and many more. The united nations are making essential contributions in the middle east so that they can attain regional stability and security. The UN is not very perfect, but it is utilizing the ability it has to help the middle east in attaining its stability. There are of ways that the UN have contributed to the attainment of stability in the middle east. There are numerous examples of what has been done in the middle east by the united nations. However, we will only focus on Lebanon, Gaza and Israel, Iraq and ISIS, the Syrian war and Yemen.
Lebanon.
The (UNIFIL) United nations interim force in Lebanon has existed since it was created by the security council of the UN in March 1978. Since its creation, it has been entitled to the responsibility of monitoring the border between Israel and Lebanon and report Israel defence forces or the military of Lebanon in case of any violations.
The armed forces of Lebanon coordinate with the UNIFIL so that there us assured security of the blue line, which is the area monitored by the UNIFIL. This is an area that is faced by numerous security challenges. The armed forces of Lebanon and the UNIFIL conduct joint military training, share and exchange their experiences through joint lecture program and conduct patrols and checkpoints together. Through these, the UN has been successfully been able to implement long term security measures. UNIFIL regularly holds meetings with the armed forces of Lebanon and the Israel defence forces that serve in solving conflicts and bridging the gap that exists between the parties.
Besides engaging with the armed forces, UNIFIL recognizes the benefits of interacting with the local citizens. It does this by informing the local populations its mandates, giving the necessary assistance, engaging with the local culture and active participation in community events. By doing so, UNIFIL can interact with the government, religious leaders, community leaders, international organizations and civil society groups which are responsible for development activities. All these activities actively contribute to infrastructure growth and protection. It also helps in security maintenance along the blue line. A cohesive environment between the UNIFIL and the local population enables UNIFIL to conduct its activities effectively. UNIFIL provides the local population with basic services such as medical services, dental and veterinarian services. This helps in building the trust entitled to them by the local population.
The united nation is still involved in the protection of housing infrastructures in Lebanon. Lebanon is a nation that houses a large population of the Syrian refugees who have fled from the war in Syria. The united nations high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) is the body in charge of refugees in Lebanon. The UNHCR has the responsibility of addressing the needs of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Most of the refugees are exposed to suffering, especially when there are adverse climatic conditions such as heavy rains.
Gaza and Israel.
Gaza is a good representative of high security in the middle east. This is in terms of economic stability, living conditions and protection from attacks. Over the last decades, it has experienced numerous violence over territorial disputes. Hamas is responsible for controlling Gaza. The citizens of Gaza face restrictions their border due to the restrictions that are present between the Israeli and the Egyptian border. Infrastructure development has ceased in the area due to the frequent wars, inadequate resources and artillery exchanges. To respond to the numerous challenges affecting Gaza, the UN has made a response to solving these challenges. The Israeli government even recommended the UN for maintaining peace in their nation.
UN condemned the use of force against protestors, the majority of whom were un-armed. UN coordinator ordered the ending of violence in Gaza. The coordinator was supported by the international community claiming that support was essential in preventing war.
The UN has played a vital role in the creation of the future of Israel and Gaza. The UN’s presence will continue as long as Israel and Gaza maintain their tense relationship. In case of any conflicts between the two nations, the UN will always be present to restore them to the right condition.
Iraq and ISIS.
The united nations assistance mission for Iraq (UNAMI) is among the UN representatives in Iraq. It was first established in 2003, expanded in 2007 and has remained active till today. it is entitled to the responsibility of assisting the government and the people of Iraq (Eppert 2019). It also has the responsibility of promoting various security measures and infrastructure development and protection. It works closely with the government and civil societies that coordinate humanitarian efforts for agencies, programs and funds all over the country. the body does not provide development programs. It raises development profiles by participating in activities such as political dialogues, helping in the election process and engaging in regional dialogues between Iraq and its neighbouring nations.
The role of the UN is majorly centred on political and humanitarian aid. This is particularly on the displaced population that has continued to expand resulting from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). ISIS has occupied the Iraq and Syrian territories since 2014 and has remained the top concern of security. This is due to financial resources, ruthless violence and innovative methods for utilizing social media.
The condition in Iraq caused by ISIS is a concern in other different areas besides Iraq. It has led to the destruction of infrastructure caused by the brutal fights. It has also led to the displacement of thousands of people from their original residential areas. Besides the provision of basic goods, the UN also provides hospitals to help trauma victims. These hospitals provide essential services necessary for the residents of Iraq who are experiencing trauma and violence caused by ISIS. Rebuilding and renovating the infrastructure and improving political institutions will help in improving security. The president of the UN pointed out that roads are being prepared, hospitals are operating, electric power is being renovated and people will now have their life restored to normal. The international community has the responsibility of restoring and maintenance of the infrastructure for future stability.
The Syrian civil war and the refugee crisis.
Conflicts in Syria have threatened security in the entire country. human rights have also been violated during the crisis. UN has responded to these crises by causing an end of the violence and release of prisoners. Displacement of the Syrian residents led to an increase of Syrian refugees. The UN responds to all security issues by bridging the gap between humanitarian and development strategies and by assisting those who are affected. They do these by strengthening the livelihoods, rebuilding infrastructures and maintaining social cohesion. To ensure that the basic needs are met, proper funding has to be supplied to the UN so that it can help the Syrian refugees.
Besides the UN and help it provides, there have been several debates on an international agreement. International agreements play a vital role in the protection of the infrastructure. The fatal impacts over the years have continuously affected economic growth and social cohesion. Today, world leaders have continued with the effort of addressing this debate in the annual general assembly. Many speakers who play a role in the national assembly have served to bring about a peaceful dialogue and urged the parties in a conflict to engage in an international agreement. Several state heads, ministers and governments drew the attention to the tension in the recent attacks in Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities.
The minister of foreign affairs in Saudi Arabia, Ibrahim bin Abdul-Aziz mentioned that the attacks that took place on 14th September in his country’s oil refinery were against the principles of the united nations, threatened stability of the region and exposed the regime of Iran to the whole world. He said they were dealing with a rogue and terrorism system. He said that partial agreements with Iran did not reduce criminal attacks, but it has increased the rate of attack and aggressive activities. He said that cutting the resources that finance Iran, the international community will prevent it from sending its militias and making weapons that are used during the attacks. This shows that the international community has a role in protecting the infrastructure, which in this case is the oil refinery.
The Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic, referring to a dispute over Kosovo and Metohija, gave importance on the need for dialogue and also warned against unilateral actions such as Pristina’s recent imposition of customs tariffs on the imports of his country. with the pledge of advocating rights, independence and sovereignty of the small nations, he stated that his nation will always hold peaceful dialogues and will not hesitate to build positive relationships with powerful nations like china and the united states.
Among the speakers who supported the motion on international agreements was Nico’s Anastasiadis, who was the president of Cyprus. He said that his nation has put a lot of effort into an unacceptable status quo which resulted from illegal invasions and military occupation of more than one-third of his nation. There was a glimmer of hope when there were peace talks held. He stated that the peace talks could lead to a bi-communal and a bi-zonal Cyprus with legal citizenship, political equality and single sovereignty.
The king of Tonga, TUPOU VI, commended on the priorities of the 2030 agenda which were on sustainable development, prevention of conflicts, protection of human rights and handling climatic changes (Sumeo 2016). He said that his nation has put a lot of commitment to achieve sustainable development goals through the nation’s strategic development framework. He also expressed his gratitude for the help that was provided to the less developed countries and the developing countries as well.
He said that his nation and its neighbours are all committed to the agreement that was made in Paris regarding climate change despite its little contribution to global warming. He said he would secure a lot of capital to finance to secure climate changes. Climatic changes that resulted in floods, cyclones, draughts and tides had adverse effects on the infrastructure. Therefore, making such agreements would help to curb the effects of these climatic changes on the infrastructure.
The climatic changes had great impacts on the marine environment. He, therefore, had a vision of the upcoming deliberations at the 25th conference of parties to the UNs framework convention on climatic changes. He said that the laws governing the seas should not be affected despite risen water levels in the sea.
On the biological diversity beyond the national borders, he said that his nation was engaged in the years 2nd and 3rd intergovernmental conferences and the international seabed authority that is working to put regulations that will help maintain a balance between conservation and proper use of minerals in the deep sea. His nation hosted the first international regional workshop.
In conclusion, every part of the infrastructure is vital. They play different roles some of which are interconnected. There is a necessity to protect our infrastructure to maintain efficiency and its useful period. Various international agreements have been made to protect the infrastructure. As mentioned earlier, Infrastructure plays a very fundamental role in the economic, social and political development of any nation in the world. Essentially, adequate state-of-the-art infrastructure in the form of road networks, railway transport system, ports, energy, aviation is needed for integration of a country’s economy with other economies across the globe. Therefore, given the critical importance of infrastructure, every government and nation must protect essential critical infrastructure operations against theft, plunder, terrorist activities, natural disasters and other risks. By doing so, our infrastructure will be safe for use, and efficiency will be assured from their use.
References.
Babatunde, M. A. (2020). Promoting Connectivity of Infrastructure in the Context of One Belt, One Road Initiatives: Implications for Africa. Fostering Trade in Africa: Trade Relations, Business Opportunities and Policy Instruments, 111.
Eppert, K. (2019). UN Intervention Practices in Iraq: A Discursive Approach to International Interventions. Routledge.
Fioravanti, M. E. (2016). Digital Quorum Sensing for Self-Organizing Malware (Doctoral dissertation).
Haber, E. (2019). The Wiretapping of Things. UC Davis Law Review, 53(733).
Patel, D. A., & Bharadwaj, S. (2020). Budapest Convention on Cyber Crime.
Salam, A., Hoang, A. D., Meghna, A., Martin, D. R., Guzman, G., Yoon, Y. H., … & Skvarek, M. (2019). The Future of Emerging IoT Paradigms: Architectures and Technologies.
Sumeo, S. I. K. (2016). Land rights and empowerment of urban women, fa’afafine and fakaleitī in Samoa and Tonga (Doctoral dissertation, Auckland University of Technology).