Threat-Agnostic Resilience: Framing and Application for Critical Infrastructure

TL;DR

This paper introduces a threat-agnostic framework for critical infrastructure resilience based on five principles, aiming to enhance system robustness, recovery, and adaptability amid diverse threats and systemic interdependencies.

Contribution

It defines practical forms and quantification strategies for five resilience principles, providing a methodological foundation for threat-agnostic infrastructure resilience.

Findings

Principles of modularity, distributedness, redundancy, diversity, and plasticity enhance resilience.

Quantification strategies enable assessment of resilience principles.

Application of principles improves infrastructure recovery and adaptability.

Abstract

Critical infrastructure is not indestructible. Threats, both emergent and systemic, have propagated beyond historical norms that risk mitigation efforts alone cannot alleviate. Interdependencies between infrastructural systems compound consequences at vulnerable locations but can be harnessed to maximize operational efficiency and recovery capability. Characterizing practical forms of resilient infrastructure through 5 basic principles (modularity, distributedness, redundancy, diversity, and plasticity) provides a foundation for critical infrastructure systems to absorb, recover, and adapt to disruptions agnostic of threat source. Challenges exist in developing methodological foundations for these principles within practical applications to prevent sunk cost and over-constraining operational procedures. This study evaluates each principle, establishing practical forms, quantification strategies, and their impact on critical infrastructure resilience.