Modern, industry-standard communications and transportation systems were two more key infrastructure systems.
We have enhanced security at our nation's airports and around other transportation systems and infrastructure.
These "bursts" and "breaks" in the monsoon cause floods and droughts that impact agriculture, river systems and infrastructure.
The bulk of the cuts would come from reductions in research and development, funding of new weapons systems and infrastructure creation.
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"That said, we feel there is going to be an awful lot of organic growth in public places, " said Britta Gross, General Motors' director of global energy systems and infrastructure commercialization.
But in the business world, the shift to the cloud has been complicated greatly by the incumbency of traditional on-premises systems and infrastructure and applications, plus all the myriad layers of complexity and cost that were required to string together disparate software and servers and networks and middleware and so on.
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This is especially true at very large and very small scales (think astronomy or particle physics), but also liminal spaces or large sociotechnical systems that cannot be experienced completely or directly (think cyberspace, but also large infrastructure systems like power grids, interstrate highway systems, etc.).
The sizeable investments flowing into the smart grid space have the need for deeper data infrastructure systems.
That makes it the first publicly-known threat, aside from occasional unattributed reports, to target the long-vulnerable infrastructure systems.
Clarke was more optimistic about administration proposals to impose greater cybersecurity standards on private owners and operators of civilian critical infrastructure systems.
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At least 15 others are in Internet-related software, systems integration and infrastructure.
But the vulnerability of critical infrastructure systems, mostly owned by the private sector, has slowly emerged as a real threat to national security.
However, the higher speeds provided by the more expensive infrastructure systems like a cable to every dwelling or office: they do not make a difference.
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Little doubt remains that the Stuxnet worm represents one of the most sophisticated digital attacks on critical infrastructure systems that cybersecurity researchers have ever seen.
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Expect that to change over the next few years as the U.S. and other governments scale up investments in the environmental monitoring systems and data infrastructure assets.
Operators of critical infrastructure systems that people rely on for life-sustaining services have the added responsibility of ensuring their systems are at least protected with industry-consensus best practices.
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Unknown hackers, perhaps a world away, had inserted malicious software into the computer networks of private-sector companies that operate most of our transportation, water and other critical infrastructure systems.
In simple terms cyber attacks focus on the disruption or destruction of information, information systems or information infrastructure and to deny their availability to the system owners or legitimate users.
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Defense contractors, who possess sensitive military data, are particularly likely to be monitored by the new Einstein program, and critical infrastructure systems are also likely to fall under its surveillance.
Last May, the Administration sent a legislative proposal to the Congress that would give the Federal government and private sector new tools to ensure our most vital critical infrastructure systems are properly secured.
The sensitivity over the public-private partnership remains a hotly debated issue in Washington, as lawmakers try to come up with legislation that would require acceptable minimum security standards for companies that operate critical infrastructure systems.
So while liquid financial markets, educated workforces and business-friendly legal environments are still indispensable ingredients of any international financial center, non-traditional factors like the state of local infrastructure systems have become an indisputable piece of the puzzle.
The other thing that was happening was that we were becoming less competitive internationally, so manufacturing jobs were moving overseas, you saw countries like China and India and Brazil investing heavily in their education systems and in infrastructure.
Marcus Sachs, the executive director of national security policy at Verizon (nyse: VZ - news - people ), was hopeful that Chertoff's appeal to the private sector at RSA might mean more information sharing with those critical infrastructure systems.
On July 15, 1996, President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order No. 13010, in which he identified eight infrastructure systems critical to the nation's survival: telecommunications, electric power systems, oil and gas storage, transportation, banking and finance, storage and transportation, water supply systems, and emergency services (including medical, police, fire and rescue, and continuity of government).
Idaho National Lab has a cadre of researchers who investigate vulnerabilities in computerized control systems that run critical infrastructure.
When reviewing or creating a Disaster Recovery Plan, one of the most important considerations is to understand how critical infrastructure and systems would be replaced if damaged during an event.
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The winners will be the ones able to rethink their positioning in the value chain of their respective industries and to rapidly enable the eco-systems, tools and infrastructure required to execute their new strategy.
Service providers like Equinix, Logicworks and many others, offer private clouds that are essentially turnkey systems in which the infrastructure is separated and dedicated, but otherwise the cloud works just like Amazon Web Services, the Rackspace Cloud, or other public clouds.
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To protect electronics infrastructure, entire systems must be encased in a metallic shield to prevent any external electromagnetic pulse from entering.
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