Jeffrey W. Seifert

The effects of September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on public and private information infrastructures : a preliminary assessment of lessons learned - New York : PERGAMON, 2002

This article provides a preliminary assessment of the impact of the September 11, 2001, attacks on public and private information infrastructures. As the events of the day demonstrated, information technology promises to play a critical role in future homeland security initiatives. Over the past two decades, information technology has become increasingly integrated into the day-to-day operations of most organizations. The dependability and continuity of information infrastructures can be a determining factor of how well an organization will be able to respond to a catastrophic event. The article considers some of the lessons learned from September 11 as both government and business move forward to rebuild and reinforce their technology assets. Although many lessons can be identified, they emphasize three general principles: the establishment and practice of comprehensive continuity and recovery plans, the decentralization of operations, and the development of system redundancies to eliminate single points of weakness