Human Factors-Centric Validation of a Security Management System in a Linked Critical Infrastructures Environment

Abstract

This work reports the human factors-related validation results of a security system for the protection of linked critical infrastructures (CIs) against combined cyber-physical attacks. Attacks of any kind on CIs have increased in number and complexity. In order to prevent or mitigate interruption of services to the public, the protection of CIs is of high importance. As an evolution of recent security research on single and linked CIs, the EU H2020 project PRAETORIAN adopted a holistic security management approach that addressed linked CIs with one overarching toolset. The PRAETORIAN toolset is specifically designed to support security managers of CIs in their decision-making processes. It enables them to anticipate, manage, and withstand potential cyber, physical, or combined security threats that could target their own infrastructures, as well as other interconnected CIs. These threats could have a substantial impact on the operational performance or service provision of these infrastructures and potentially compromise the safety and security of the population residing in their vicinities. The toolset consists of four primary systems: The Physical Situation Awareness (PSA) system, the Cyber Situation Awareness (CSA) system, the Hybrid Situation Awareness (HAS) system, and the Coordinated Response (CR) system. Central to the toolset is the Interoperability Platform (IOP), which interconnects all the modules within the PRAETORIAN toolset. This interconnection facilitates seamless information exchange across all systems and modules, ensures efficient data storage, prevents the duplication of data between modules, replicates any changes made, and avoids potential inconsistencies. This integration is crucial for providing unified data accessibility across the entire platform and to obtain a clear nomenclature for events and situations across the different infrastructure domains. Each system is composed of multiple modules. This document offers only a brief overview of each system, comprehensive and detailed explanation of the toolset's architecture can be obtained from the corresponding cited documents within the full paper. The focus of the system validation was put on the assessment of operators' feedback about the PRAETORIAN system (the toolset). In four exercises, potential attack scenarios were presented to groups of selected operators along with demonstrations of the PRAETORIAN tools. Feedback was collected using questionnaires, debriefing questions and open questions throughout the presented scenario. The key validation results show that the system could offer benefits for cross-infrastructure security management, but that improvements relating to systems and HMIs, procedures and responsibilities are required.