Wiley Handbook of Science and Technology for Homeland Security, 4 Volume Set

AUSTRALIA

MANUEL SUTER AND ELGIN BRUNNER

Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich, Switzerland

1 CRITICAL SECTORS

Australia takes an all-hazards approach to the protection of critical infrastructures, whether information-based or not. The definition of critical infrastructure (CI) accepted by Australia is “those physical facilities, supply chains, information technologies and communication networks that, if destroyed, degraded or rendered unavailable for an extended period, would significantly impact on the social or economic well-being of the nation or affect Australia's ability to conduct national defense and ensure national security” [1]. The national information infrastructure (NII) is a subset of the critical infrastructure. As in many countries, the majority of the elements of the critical infrastructure are owned or operated as commercial enterprises.

In Australia, the CIP program is led by the Attorney-General's Department (AGD), primarily through the Trusted Information Sharing Network for Critical Infrastructure Protection (TISN). The TISN brings together the nine sectors considered to be critical to Australia. These are [2]:

• Communications (Telecommunications (Phone, Fax, Internet, Cable, Satellites) and Electronic Mass Communications),
• Energy (Gas, Petroleum Fuels, Refineries, Pipelines, Electricity Generation and Transmission),
• Banking and Finance (Banking, Finance, and Trading Exchanges),
• Food Supply (Bulk Production, Storage, and Distribution),
• Emergency Services, ...