Situational awareness of infrastructure dependencies

A computer network is vulnerable to failure from many directions. Current work on vulnerability analysis focuses on computer network attack, in the form of viruses, malware, and hacking. However, the network is also vulnerable to failure from external forces, especially from the loss of infrastructure upon which the network depends for its operation. One obvious example of such a dependency is the electrical power grid, but the dependencies tree quickly grows broad. Other examples include the placement of critical network assets (such as a data center) in a geologically unstable area, or a flood plain. Dependencies can be second or third order (or more); for example, if electrical power is lost then the network becomes dependent on diesel fuel supply for its generators. The network manager is currently unable to easily identify all of the network's infrastructure dependencies, and is therefore ill equipped to properly plan for - and manage through - disruption in that infrastructure. We describe the design of a graphical display system that combines the logical network structure with the geospatial realities within which that structure exists, to provide the network manager with total situational awareness of the systems and infrastructure upon which the network depends for its survival.