COMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY
Michael J. Casey · Kluwer Academic Publishers eBooks · 2006
Terrestrial backbone networks carry over 80% of Internet, voice, and video media communication globally. The increasing reliance on this network infrastructure raises concern for protection and survivability against terrorist attacks. Research in the organization of complex networks has revealed that communications infrastructure is vulnerable based on its topological and geospatial structure as well as its network traffic distribution and interdependence with other systems. This vulnerability is magnified in the network backbone and near its critical junctures, or core. Methodologies are needed to provide dynamic, wireless bridging in the event of disruption of the backbone at critical junctures. This chapter characterizes the threat imposed on backbone communication networks and their core and presents the feasibility of applying high-bandwidth, wireless, and reconfigurable communication links to bridge data networks in the event of disruption and promote sustained survivability.