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

AUSTRIA

MANUEL SUTER AND ELGIN BRUNNER

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

1 CRITICAL SECTORS

Contemporary sources of dangers and risks to the state, the society, and the individual may be found in the fields of politics, the economy, the military, society, the environment, culture and religion, and information technology (IT). Information and communication technology has acquired a dimension of its own in security policy because it links all other security aspects, thus becoming a power factor in its own right and leaving room for many options. Austria as a modern society and as a small state is particularly vulnerable in the area of information. This includes both the military and the civilian sectors, and increasingly business and industry as well [1].

Accordingly, Critical Information Infrastructure Protection is of crucial importance for Austria. Responding to a parliamentary inquiry [2], the Austrian federal chancellor defined critical infrastructures as “natural resources; services; information technology facilities; networks; and other assets which, if disrupted or destroyed would have serious impact on the health, safety, or economic well-being of the citizens or the effective functioning of the Government” [3]. This definition conforms to the definition elaborated by the EU (see chapter on the EU in this book).

The same inquiry also raised the question of whether there was a list of critical infrastructures in Austria [3]. In its answer, the Ministry ...