In today's complex world, infrastructure failures aren't limited to a single network. They spread across networks due to a complex interplay of interdependencies. What's worse is that these interdependencies are often both tightly coupled (connections that rapidly spread a failure to other systems) and non-linear (feedback loops magnify the impact of failures). Global Guerrillas will use these interconnections and interdependencies to take-down complete infrastructures through seemingly small attacks.

Network Interdependencies

Network interdependencies fall into five categories:



Input -- material delivered by one network is used by another.



-- material delivered by one network is used by another. Mutual -- networks that serve as inputs for each other. Example: oil and power generation.



-- networks that serve as inputs for each other. Example: oil and power generation. Co-location -- different networks that are located in the same geography.



-- different networks that are located in the same geography. Shared -- networks that share physical components, transport, or facilities.



-- networks that share physical components, transport, or facilities. Exclusive -- a network that can only support one or few outputs, may be transient. Example: Oil/Gasoline pipelines.

Types of Failure

Global guerrillas will plan attacks to create the following types of failure.

See inset diagram to understand how a failure in electricity production can impact other networks.



Cascade Failure: cascades of failure (see Cascading System Failure for more background) can spread quickly from one network to another through "input" and "mutual" interdependencies.



Escalating Failure: the failure in one networked infrastructure can exacerbate a failure in another network. This failure is typically due to "shared" or "exclusivity" interdependencies. For example: an attack against transportation network would slow repair of an electricity failure.

