Services in the Security Sector
Introductory note:
Security is the condition of not being threatened, especially physically, psychologically, emotionally or financially. Technical plants, products and services secure and are part of the security economy.
Critical infrastructure protection (CIP) is a concept that relates to the preparedness and response to serious incidents that involve the critical infrastructure of a region or nation.
Critical infrastructures are those physical and information technology facilities, networks, services and assets which, if disrupted or destroyed, would have a serious impact on the health, safety, security or economic well-being of citizens or the effective functioning of governments in European Union (EU) countries.
Critical infrastructure includes:
- energy installations and networks;
- communications and information technology;
- finance (banking, securities and investment);
- health care;
- food;
- water (dams, storage, treatment and networks);
- transport (airports, ports, intermodal facilities, railway and mass transit networks and traffic control systems);
- production, storage and transport of dangerous goods (e.g. chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials);
- government (e.g. critical services, facilities, information networks, assets and key national sites and monuments).
The Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament of 20 October, 2004 (not published in the Official Journal) also suggests three criteria for identifying potential critical infrastructure: the extent of the geographical area that could be affected, magnitude and effects with respect to time.
As regards security management, the first thing to note is that it is impossible to protect all infrastructures against the threat of terrorist attacks. However, by applying risk management techniques, attention can be focused on areas of greatest risk. Security management is a deliberate process of determining the risk and deciding upon and implementing actions to reduce risk to a defined and acceptable level, at an acceptable cost.
Our services include:
- Investigation and analysis of the security economy and its micro and macro economic parameters (in Austria and other countries)
- Studies about the macroeconomic impacts of the security economy
- Investigation of the demands of the critical infrastructure
- Market research concerning products and services for security
- Preparation and formulation of research proposals to be submitted to national and international (EU) research promotion institutions
