A Method for Assessing Resilience of Socio-Technical IT-Systems
Författare
Summary, in English
Modern society is increasingly dependent on IT-systems. Due to this dependence it is important
that IT-networks are designed to be resilient, meaning that they will either maintain or quickly recover their
functionality when exposed to strain. Simulation-based methods that consider supply network topology as well
as system responsible for repairing supply network have previously been used and found to be beneficial for
assessing resilience of electricity and water distribution systems. A method of this kind is here applied for ITnetworks.
The aim of the present research is to test if such a method is applicable for assessing resilience of
IT-systems, meaning that: 1) it is possible to use based on available data, in this case gathered mainly through
interviews with focus groups, 2) the results are relevant for users/owners/maintainers. The method is tested in
a case study on the IT-network of one department of Lund university as well as the university core network.
Results show that the method is applicable for the studied IT-network and that we can obtain the resilience
metrics sought for. It is found that the method can enable system owners to see if and for what levels of strain
they are presently reaching their desired targets concerning system resilience. While applicable to the studied
system, feedback from system experts indicates that the method will primarily be useful for IT-systems whose
failure would 1) result in large economic values (e.g. IT-system of major private companies) or 2) lead to loss
of health or safety (e.g. IT-systems of governmental organizations and hospitals).
that IT-networks are designed to be resilient, meaning that they will either maintain or quickly recover their
functionality when exposed to strain. Simulation-based methods that consider supply network topology as well
as system responsible for repairing supply network have previously been used and found to be beneficial for
assessing resilience of electricity and water distribution systems. A method of this kind is here applied for ITnetworks.
The aim of the present research is to test if such a method is applicable for assessing resilience of
IT-systems, meaning that: 1) it is possible to use based on available data, in this case gathered mainly through
interviews with focus groups, 2) the results are relevant for users/owners/maintainers. The method is tested in
a case study on the IT-network of one department of Lund university as well as the university core network.
Results show that the method is applicable for the studied IT-network and that we can obtain the resilience
metrics sought for. It is found that the method can enable system owners to see if and for what levels of strain
they are presently reaching their desired targets concerning system resilience. While applicable to the studied
system, feedback from system experts indicates that the method will primarily be useful for IT-systems whose
failure would 1) result in large economic values (e.g. IT-system of major private companies) or 2) lead to loss
of health or safety (e.g. IT-systems of governmental organizations and hospitals).
Avdelning/ar
Publiceringsår
2016-06
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
2199-2206
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Risk, Reliability and Safety: Innovating Theory and Practice
Dokumenttyp
Konferensbidrag
Förlag
CRC Press
Ämne
- Computer Science
Conference name
European Safety and Reliability Conference (ESREL 2016)
Conference date
2016-09-25 - 2016-09-29
Conference place
Glasgow, United Kingdom
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISBN: 978-1-4987-8898-4