Security protection for critical infrastructure

Understanding and managing information infrastructure (II) security risks is a priority to most organizations dealing with information technology and information warfare (IW) scenarios today (Libicki, 2000). Traditional security risk analysis (SRA) was well suited to these tasks within the paradigm of computer security, where the focus was on securing tangible items such as computing and communications equipment (NCS,1996; Cramer, 1998). With the growth of information interchange and reliance on information infrastructure, the ability to understand where vulnerabilities lie within an organization, regardless of size, has become extremely difficult (NIPC, 1996). To place a value on the information that is owned and used by an organization is virtually an impossible task. The suitability of risk analysis to assist in managing IW and information infrastructure-related security risks is unqualified, however studies have been undertaken to build frameworks and methodologies for modeling information warfare attacks (Molander, Riddile, & Wilson, 1996; Johnson, 1997; Hutchinson & Warren, 2001) which will assist greatly in applying risk analysis concepts and methodologies to the burgeoning information technology security paradigm, information warfare.

Promoting transportation cycling for women : the role of bicycle infrastructure

Objective.
Females are substantially less likely than males to cycle for transport in countries with low bicycle transport mode share. We investigated whether female commuter cyclists were more likely to use bicycle routes that provide separation from motor vehicle traffic.
Methods.
Census of cyclists observed at 15 locations (including off-road bicycle paths, on-road lanes and roads with no bicycle facilities) within a 7.4 km radius of the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Australia, during peak commuting times in February 2004.
Results.
6589 cyclists were observed, comprising 5229 males (79.4%) and 1360 females (20.6%). After adjustment for distance of the bicycle facility from the CBD, females showed a preference for using off-road paths rather than roads with no bicycle facilities (odds ratio [OR] = 1.43, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.12, 1.83), or roads with on-road bicycle lanes (OR = 1.34, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.75).
Conclusions.
Consistent with gender differences in risk aversion, female commuter cyclists preferred to use routes with maximum separation from motorized traffic. Improved cycling infrastructure in the form of bicycle paths and lanes that provide a high degree of separation from motor traffic is likely to be important for increasing transportation cycling amongst under-represented population groups such as women.

Considerations for modelling critical infrastructure systems

The paper commences by reviewing and examining the structure of critical infrastructure systems from a holistic viewpoint, before venturing towards determining what are the necessary considerations required for modelling a specific system within the layered structural context of the larger holistic system.

Design of electrical infrastructure at container terminal and 'net metering'

Net metering is generally a consumer-based incentive for renewable sources such as wind or solar power systems also referred to as dasiacogenerationdasia. It is still a grey area for container terminals with large electric machines, such as quay cranes, automatic stacking cranes, that can operate in the regenerative mode and export electric energy to the grid. With actual measured electrical data presented for discussion, this paper provides information for the readers to provide a better understanding of their access to net metering, ultilizing their electrical equipment capabilities and be informed for their next negotiation with the power supply company.

Multi-core Defense System (MSDS) for protecting computer infrastructure against DDoS attacks

Distributed Denial of Service attacks is one of the most challenging areas to deal with in Security. Not only do security managers have to deal with flood and vulnerability attacks. They also have to consider whether they are from legitimate or malicious attackers. In our previous work we developed a framework called bodyguard, which is to help security software developers from the current serialized paradigm, to a multi-core paradigm. In this paper, we update our research work by moving our bodyguard paradigm, into our new Ubiquitous Multi-Core Framework. From this shift, we show a marked improvement from our previous result of 20% to 110% speedup performance with an average cost of 1.5 ms. We also conducted a second series of experiments, which we trained up Neural Network, and tested it against actual DDoS attack traffic. From these experiments, we were able to achieve an average of 93.36%, of this attack traffic.

Visualisation of critical infrastructure failure

The paper explores the complexity of critical infrastructure and critical infrastructure failure (CIF), real life examples are used to discuss the complexity involved. The paper then discusses what Visualisation is and how Visualisation can be applied to a security situation, in particular critical infrastructure. The paper concludes by discussing the future direction of the research.

Security analysis and modelling framework for critical infrastructure systems

The provision and delivery of many of the services that modern society enjoys are the result of ubiquitous critical infrastructure systems that permeate across many sectors of the Australian community. Moreover, the integration of technological enhancements and networking interconnections between critical infrastructure systems has heightened system interdependence, availability and resilience, including the efficient delivery of services to consumers within Australia's industrialised society. This research delivers a system security analysis and system modelling framework tool based on an associated conceptual methodology as the basis for assessing security and conceptually modelling a critical infrastructure system incident. The intent to identify potential system security issues and gain operational insights that will contribute to improving system resilience, contingency planning development applicable to disaster recovery and ameliorating incident management responses for Australian critical infrastructure system incidents.

Managing knowledge and intangible assets

This comprehensive handbook is very popular with HR practitioners, line managers, and anyone else who needs an overview of the legal and managerial aspects of managing people in organisations.

In this edition, over 50 chapters have been updated to reflect current workplace relations law, including the new Forward with Fairness Transition Act changes. There is also a new chapter on "Government Funded Traineeships - A guide for HR Professionals".

Interactional infrastructure in rural communities : matching training needs and provision

This paper reports some of the main lessons learnt from a collaborative project titled Generating jobs in regional Tasmania: a social capital approach investigating how two small rural Tasmanian communities could better match local training needs with training provision. The project was conducted within the context of the wider social, economic and demographic changes affecting the two rural communities and their ongoing efforts to manage such change. The paper provides a profile of the two communities with particular attention to their local education, training and employment infrastructure. Three research questions in terms of improving the contributions of leadership, partnerships and social capital are addressed. Development and utilisation of social capital, particularly in the form of interactional infrastructure (defined as opportunities and structures for interaction in a community) that brought together the range of stakeholders, appeared the key to successfully matching needs with provision.

An emergent security risk : critical infrastructures and information warfare

This paper examines the emergent security risk that information warfare poses to critical infrastructure systems, particularly as governments are increasingly concerned with protecting these assets against attack or disruption. Initially it outlines critical infrastructure systems and the notion of information warfare. It then discusses the potential implications and examining the concerns and vulnerabilities such cyber attacks would pose, utilising exemplar online attack occurrences. It then examines the current Australian situation before suggesting some considerations to mitigate the potential risk that information warfare poses to critical infrastructure systems, and by association: government, industry and the wider community.

Reforming Australian public sector accounting : an episode of institutional thinking

In recent years in Australia, accounting reforms have been developed which have resulted in the application of commercial systems of accounting to diverse public sector organisations. The reforms, which include the requirement to recognise infrastructure and heritage resources as assets in financial reports, endorse financial notions of accountability and performance that have been traditionally applied within private sector, profit-seeking organisations. Such notions are applied to a range of public sector organisations for the first time, even though the primary missions or objectives of many of these organisations are social, rather than financial in orientation. This critical, interpretative case study, set within the context of not-for-profit public museums, seeks to enhance an understanding of public sector accounting change based on these unique social organisations. The study examines three aspects of the reforms, namely, their development, their promotion and their defence. This examination is undertaken using the ideas contained in Mary Douglas’ (1986) How Institutions Think as the key theoretical construct. The supplementary perspectives of problematisation and epistemic communities are used to assist in applying the primary theoretical construct by explaining how, and by whom, these reforms were advocated and implemented in this specific instance. The study shows how the interpretation and application of the statements comprising the conceptual framework have shaped the development, promotion and defence of detailed standards developed for specific public sector organisations. In doing so, the study addresses two key research questions: (1) How were financial notions of accountability and performance of Australian public sector organisations constructed during the period 1976-2001 and articulated in the CF, once its development began, within this reform period? (2) How were these notions and other concepts of financial reporting outlined in the CF interpreted and applied in the (i) development; (ii) promotion; and (iii) defence of detailed accounting standards for not-for-profit public museums in Australia during the period under investigation? The study demonstrates that the concepts of financial reporting outlined in the conceptual framework were used by a relatively small group of technical experts located in influential positions in accounting regulation and in other fields to justify the application of accrual accounting within diverse public sector organisations. During the period examined, only certain questions were posed and certain issues considered and many problems associated with the implementation of the reforms were not considered. Accordingly, a key finding of the study is that each aspect of the reform period was guided and constrained by institutional thinking. In addition, the study shows how the framework's content can be used to permit equally well-argued, but conflicting, accounting policies to be adopted and defended for the same items, indicating the framework to be of only limited value as a technical tool. This leads to another key finding of the study, namely, that the framework is best understood as a political tool, serving a crucial role in enabling accrual accounting reforms to be developed, promoted and defended within the public sector. Thus, the study seeks to offer an enhanced understanding of the nature and determinants of accounting change, and accordingly, it broadens an understanding of the use of the conceptual framework, as an institution, in developing, promoting and defending changes to accounting practice.