Navigating Complexity: Resilience Strategies for Safeguarding Information in the Context of National Security and Preparedness

Sharing information about threats, vulnerabilities and risks has become a pivotal area in enhancing resilience within critical infrastructures. Modern socio-technical systems, which provide essential services such as electricity, water, healthcare and telecommunications, are becoming increasingly complex and interdependent. These ‘system of systems’ are operated and maintained by a growing web of actors, making it difficult for any single entity to have control over the entire value chain. The growing interdependency and complexity increase the possibility of connected and cascading impacts across the system, which may cause a system-wide failure. The resilience-building and coordination of the response efforts are further complicated in a such systems by the sector specific regulative and administrative structures. Whereas impacts of disruptions are increasingly likely to be cross-sectoral, as well as cross-border, the regulation and administration of critical infrastructures and services are usually siloed into various national, regional and communal levels. These differences are also reflected in information sharing, the interests and priorities do not automatically align. Each stakeholder group represents a different set of interests, incentives, vulnerabilities and capabilities to manage emergencies and crises. This is the core motivation for the need for multi-stakeholder approach to resilience-building.