Cybernetic safety & security, a new paradigm

Abstract

The concepts of safety and security are used interchangeably and often inappropriately in defining the characteristics and emerging properties of general and cybernetic systems. This paper provides a clear distinction for the two concepts and further develops a systems framework for the attainment of these highly desirable properties in complex systems. The concepts of safety and security are examined across cybernetic systems and contexts from advanced control systems to information systems, robotics and nanotechnology. The proposed framework is extended to equitably address safety as well as security of such systems, employing a systemic suite of principles. The advanced framework comprises systems assurance concepts founded on faults, errors, failures, hazards and consequences. Likewise, advanced system security concepts comprising vulnerability and consequences are treated in the same framework, thus providing an integrated systemic foundation for the treatment of these increasingly regulated aspects to modern complex systems. The proposed framework additionally lends itself to the systematic and systemic treatment of environmental and sustainability facets.