Security research

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Security research ("security research" or "safety research") is an independent discipline in research that deals with the systematic analysis and control of risks for the purpose of reducing the frequency and severity of damage and loss. A practice-oriented branch of safety science is safety technology. In security research, both stochastically occurring events ("Safety Research") and deliberately induced events ("Security Research") are considered. In the German language, these sub-research areas are not linguistically differentiated.

Security research

The aim of security research is to identify unlawful and deliberate violations of the security of societies, people, institutions, goods and infrastructure, to prevent them, to prepare for them and to protect against corresponding damage. For these purposes, both the security of the citizens and the competitiveness of industry are to be increased. However, security is not primarily a technical problem, but a socially mediated process. Ensuring security is a core task of democratically constituted states, but requires the participation of the citizens, since state power alone no longer serves as a guarantee of security.

Security research aims to optimize what is politically necessary, technically feasible, ethically justifiable and socially acceptable. Security research therefore also includes technology assessment with the aim of minimizing negative social impacts or risks of new types of security technologies. Unlike risk research , however, security research looks at e.g. B. the protection of critical infrastructures from the point of view of politics, administration, sociology and law. It compares dangerous situations and pursued private as well as public protection strategies and their possible links in an international comparison.

development

While the analysis of international conflicts and their management established itself as a discipline after the First World War, the scientific analysis of the protection of internal, civil security, which is in the foreground today, is a young field. Triggered by the challenges of networked information and communication technologies and the emphasis on "homeland security" since "9/11", the field of research and development of security technology, which was previously covered within the office but has become too complex for this, has become the subject of interdisciplinary scientific research. The operational form of the term security research is shaped by the current demand situation due to its strong practical and application relevance.

Safety research

The aim of safety research is to quantify stochastically occurring safety-relevant system deviations in terms of frequency and effects ( risk research ) and to provide suitable systems to reduce or prevent negative effects on people and the environment. Research focuses on both technical systems and the human factor. Among other things, safety research in the “safety research” sub-area deals with the operational safety of technical systems, accident research , process and plant safety, occupational safety and safety culture.

In addition to researching security systems , one aim of security research is to provide suitable methods for risk and hazard analysis as well as system analysis.

Security as a public good

In performing its task of providing security as a public good , the public sector is faced with the following questions in particular:

  • How do citizens perceive risks in their everyday life?
  • What are the prevailing threat scenarios? And does all of this agree with "objective", statistically ascertained and verifiable risk probabilities?
  • What does this mean for future procurement and implementation measures for security solutions - how should the public sector react?
  • Which security solutions are rated as actually necessary or desirable by the population?
  • Where does the impression arise that this is a massive or unacceptable intrusion into privacy or a curtailment of constitutionally guaranteed fundamental freedoms ?

Topics in security research

Security research is currently investigating how potential threat scenarios can be quantitatively and qualitatively captured with data, as well as what scientific, economic, social and political consequences result from this. In detail it is about:

  • Risk and hazard analyzes
  • Security and threat analytics
  • Impact considerations (e.g. accident effects)
  • technical security
  • Analysis of corporate and social safety culture
  • Security in urban areas
  • Investigation of the feeling of security in relation to the objective risk development
  • Assessment of social vulnerability ( vulnerability ) by security threats
  • Analysis of the effects of security interventions
  • Crisis and Disaster Management
  • Human behavior in emergency situations
  • Protection of threatened technical and social infrastructure
  • Development of technologies and processes as well as their verification with regard to their practical suitability and "civic compatibility" (social acceptance)
  • Information and training

Methods

  1. A part of society, its material and immaterial basis is considered
  2. Risks or threats to which the object under consideration is exposed are identified (e.g. natural disasters, terrorist attacks, procedural or lack of knowledge on the part of operators).
  3. Identification of security vulnerabilities
  4. Aspects to be researched are derived from the identified security gaps; The respective urgency of the research results from the severity and scope of a security gap and the consequences to be expected if a security-relevant event occurs.
  5. These research topics serve to identify security gaps and offer possible solutions to avoid or neutralize them.

literature

  • Petra Badke-Schaub, Gesine Hofinger, Kristina Lauche (eds.): Human Factors. Psychology of Safe Action in Risk Industries . Heidelberg: Springer, 2008.
  • Thierry Balzacq: Securitization Theory. How Security Problems Emerge and Dissolve. London: Routledge, 2011.
  • Peter Burgess (ed.): The Routledge Handbook of New Security Studies. London u. a .: Routledge, 2010.
  • Conze, Eckart : History of Security. Development - Topics - Perspectives, Göttingen Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2017, ISBN 978-3-525-30094-7
  • Lars Gerhold, Jochen Schiller (ed.): Perspectives of security research. Contributions from the Public Safety Research Forum . Frankfurt a. M .: Peter Lang Verlag, 2012.
  • Martin Gill (ed.): The Handbook of Security . Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
  • David A. McEntire: Disciplines, Disasters and Emergency Management. The Convergence and Divergence of Concepts, Issues and Trends from the Research Literature . Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 2007; also: Washington, DC: Federal Emergency Management Agency, E-Book, 2006, ( online ).
  • Herfried Münkler, Matthias Bohlender, Sabine Meurer (eds.): Security and risk. On dealing with danger in the 21st century . Bielfeld: transcript 2010.
  • Alexander Siedschlag, Manfred Andexinger, Florian Fritz (with the help of Klaus Becher): Catalog of criteria for good security research. Public version of Deliverable 5.5, KIRAS project SFI @ SFU. Sigmund Freud Private University of Vienna: Institute for Security Research, 2011, ( Online ; PDF; 809 kB).
  • Peter Winzer, Ekkehard Schnieder, Friedrich-Wilhelm Bach (ed.): Security research - opportunities and perspectives . acatech DISCUSSED. Berlin u. a .: Springer, 2010, ( online ).
  • Peter Zoche, Stefan Kaufmann, Rita Haverkamp (eds.): Civil security. Social Dimensions of Current Security Policies . Bielefeld: Transcript, 2010.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cordis.Europa .
  2. ↑ See e.g. B. Manfred Andexinger: Report: "More security - but how?" report_conference_security technologies_20_05_2010.pdf .
  3. ↑ E.g. Michael Kloepfer: Protection of critical infrastructures. IT and energy. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2010.
  4. ↑ Cf. Alexander Siedschlag u. a .: Annual report 2010. KIRAS project SFI @ SFU: "Development of a cross-disciplinary national security research institute (Austrian Center for Comprehensive Security Research) at the Sigmund Freud Private University of Vienna". Vienna, 2011, ( report ; PDF; 3.2 MB).
  5. ↑ See Peter Winzer / Ekkehard Schnieder / Friedrich-Wilhelm Bach (eds.): Security research - opportunities and perspectives. acatech DISCUSSED. Berlin u. a .: Springer, 2010, ( report  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ).@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.acatech.de