Article
The United States is arguably the most vulnerable information society on earth. The U.S. is increasingly dependent on information systems for the continued functioning of its critical infrastructure, such as power grids, communication networks, air traffic control, and medical services delivery. In addition to being one of the most information intensive societies, the U.S. is also one of the most open. Also, much of the American critical infrastructure is owned or controlled by the private sector, rather than by the government.
U.S. critical infrastructure and its obvious vulnerabilities, therefore, present a rich opportunity for cyber-terrorists and information warriors to strike from a distance and to cause instability and damage to the nation''s economic and social functions and activities.
There is an inverse relationship between the requisite sophistication of the cyber attacker and the availability of tools on the Internet that can be used to carry out attacks on information systems. As the latter has grown, the necessary level of computing expertise required to carry out an attack has diminished, thereby opening critical infra structure to damage or destruction from a wider population.
The members of the Harvard Information Infrastructure Project bring their expertise to bear on these important questions. Director Deborah Hurley currently serves on the Committee on Critical Infrastructure Protection and the Law of the U.S. National Research Council and she will chair the Strategic Planning Workshop of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) on Creating Trust in Critical Network Infrastructures in 2002.
HIIP Briefs
HIIP organized a Conference on Information Policy in the New Economy in Switzerland in June on regulatory and policy convergence in the information economy. Deborah Hurley chaired the International Telecommunication Union Workshop on Regulatory Implications of Broadband in Switzerland in May.
The HIIP selected Japan for its 2001 Country Focus Seminar. In April, the HIIP hosted Takeo Shiina , Senior Advisor and for mer Chairman of IBM Japan and Sachio Semmoto , Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of eAccess Ltd.
Together with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the HIIP sponsored a policy briefing on Emerging Cyberspace Issues Internet Jurisdiction and Global Privacy Protection at the National Press Club in Washington, DC in June.
The Autumn 2001 Lewis M. Branscomb Lecture will be delivered by Eugene B. Skolnikoff, Professor of Political Science Emeritus, MIT, on December 17. The lecture will be held in the Taubman Conference Center from 3:30-5:00 p.m.
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/iip/.