The Information Systems Security Officers Guide: Establishing and Managing an Information Protection Program

The National Information Infrastructure (NII) alluded to earlier is basically the network of computers upon which the nation-state and its people rely in this information-knowledge age. The NII is the high-technology, critical information infrastructure of a nation-state. The critical infrastructures, according to several nation-states, are generally defined as systems whose incapacity or destruction would have a debilitating impact on the defense or economic security of the nation-state. They include:

• Telecommunications,

• Electrical power systems,

• Gas and oil,

• Banking and finance,

• Transportation,

• Water supply systems,

• Government services, and

• Emergency services.