Modeling telecommunications infrastructures using the CISIApro 2.0 simulator

Telecommunications is a vital component of industrial automation and control systems that are used widely in the critical infrastructure. However, the integration of telecommunications infrastructures in critical infrastructure assets increases the risk of cyber threats. Telecommunications infrastructures can amplify and expand the impacts of an adverse event such as a cyber attack (or fault or natural disaster) on a single infrastructure, leading to cascading disruptions and major crises. Modeling critical infrastructures is a complex and multi-disciplinary problem that is vital to understanding the domino effects encountered in complex interdependent networks. This chapter models interconnected infrastructures using a mixed holistic reductionist approach that divides each infrastructure into components (reductionist layer), services (service layer) and nodes (holistic layer). The CISIApro 2.0 agent-based simulator, which has been adapted to model and simulate telecommunications infrastructures in terms of network routing and the allocation of differentiated services, is employed. The modeling and simulation approaches enable telecommunications infrastructure operators to assess the consequences of adverse events such as failures, cyber attacks and natural disasters, and to identify restoration actions