Infrastructure Vulnerability Assessment Model (I‐VAM)

Abstract

Quantifying vulnerability to critical infrastructure has not been adequately addressed in the literature. Thus, the purpose of this article is to present a model that quantifies vulnerability. Vulnerability is defined as a measure of system susceptibility to threat scenarios. This article asserts that vulnerability is a condition of the system and it can be quantified using the Infrastructure Vulnerability Assessment Model (I-VAM). The model is presented and then applied to a medium-sized clean water system. The model requires subject matter experts (SMEs) to establish value functions and weights, and to assess protection measures of the system. Simulation is used to account for uncertainty in measurement, aggregate expert assessment, and to yield a vulnerability (Omega) density function. Results demonstrate that I-VAM is useful to decisionmakers who prefer quantification to qualitative treatment of vulnerability. I-VAM can be used to quantify vulnerability to other infrastructures, supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA), and distributed control systems (DCS).

Efficiency of network event logs as admissible digital evidence

“…The Best Evidence in Irish Court, whenever dealing with the contents of photograph, writing, or recording, courts occasionally need the original evidence [19], [5]. The originalevidence drive of this rule was to confirm that decisions made in court were founded on the best available information.…”

Uncertainties and Risk Analysis Related to Geohazards: From Practical Applications to Research Trends

“…While many authors consider aleatoric and semantic uncertainties (Bogardi 2004, Adger 2006, Ezell 2007 as the two main groups, this part focuses on other classifications and highlights definitions of uncertainties.…”

Vulnerability Analysis of Urban Drainage Systems: Tree vs. Loop Networks

“…Turvey (2007) put forward a spatial methodology for vulnerability assessment in developing countries by constructing a composite vulnerability index [12]. Ezell (2007) developed an Infrastructure Vulnerability Assessment Model to quantify the vulnerability of water supply systems [19]. However, vulnerability analysis has not been widely applied in real-world applications and in particular there are few attempts in the field of urban drainage systems.…”

“…For example, Murray et al (2004) developed a probability and statistics method which can be used to assess the vulnerability of a water utility to a large range of contamination attacks [26]. Ezell (2007) developed a comprehensive index method (i.e., deterrence, detection, delay, and response) which can also be used to quantify the vulnerability of the systems by establishing the comprehensive evaluation index [19]. Pinto et al (2010) introduced the theory of vulnerability of water pipe network (TVWPN) which is to help design water pipe networks (WPN) more robust against damage to the pipelines [31].…”

“…In fact, vulnerability analysis is normally conducted from identifying various threats that may occur, testing the response of the system, and identifying the weakest components. In the field of water distribution systems, different quantitative analysis methods have been developed for vulnerability assessment, such as probability and statistics methods, comprehensive index methods, Markov Latent Effects modeling methods [14,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. For example, Murray et al (2004) developed a probability and statistics method which can be used to assess the vulnerability of a water utility to a large range of contamination attacks [26].…”