Page 122 - Cyber Terrorism and Extremism as Threat to Critical Infrastructure Protection

SECTION II: CYBER TERRORISM AND SECURITY IMPLICATION FOR CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION

to major accidents and disasters, addresses critical infrastructure in the context of review-
ing the obligations of participants involved in implementing protection and rescue measures
(Government of the Republic of Croatia, 2010). The Republic of Croatia Threat Assessment
from Natural and Technical-Technological Disasters and Large Accidents, from 2013, men-
tions critical infrastructure in a broader range of protection against natural and anthropogenic
sources of threat (Government of the Republic of Croatia, 2013a). The National Strategy
and Action Plan for the Suppression of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction,
from the same year, cites the protection of critical infrastructure and populations from a crisis
caused by weapons of mass destruction as a specific objective (Government of the Republic
of Croatia, 2013b).

All the strategic documents of the period addressed the issues of critical infrastructure protec-
tion from their specific standpoints. Such a trend was present until 2013 and the adoption of
the Critical Protection Act, which constitutes systemic law in this area and which transposes
Council Directive 2008/114/EC into Croatian legislation. The law has a comprehensive ap-
proach to addressing all risks and threats to critical infrastructure, and delegates responsibility
for their protection to critical infrastructure owners or managers (Government of the Republic
of Croatia, 2013c).

In 2015, two new security strategies were adopted, the National Strategy for the Prevention
and Suppression of Terrorism and the National Cyber Security Strategy. Both are significant
because the area of critical infrastructure is strongly recognized and represented. The National
Strategy for the Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism recognizes the terrorist threat and
potential attacks on national critical infrastructure whose disruption or interruption of the
delivery of goods or services could have severe consequences for national security, human
health and lives, property and environment, security and economic stability, and continued
government functioning. The Strategy sets out a series of measures that need to be imple-
mented to protect critical infrastructure from terrorist attacks (Government of the Republic
of Croatia, 2015a). In the National Cyber Security Strategy, the area of critical infrastructure
is much more prominent than in all the previous national strategies, assessments and plans,
primarily through critical communications and information infrastructure, which is defined as
communication and information systems whose malfunctioning would significantly disrupt
the operation of one or more national critical infrastructures. As in the previous example, the
Strategy sets out several necessary measures to ensure that critical infrastructure is as pro-
tected as possible (Government of the Republic of Croatia, 2015b).

The next significant period for the development of a strategic and normative framework for
critical infrastructure protection is recorded during 2017 and 2018. In 2017, the National
Security Strategy of the Republic of Croatia and the Homeland Security System Act were
adopted. The Strategy states, as one of the nine strategic objectives, “achieving the high-
est level of security and protection of the population and critical infrastructure”, in which it
outlines the elements required to develop security policies related to critical infrastructure
protection (Croatian Parliament, 2017a). The Homeland Security System Act was adopted to
put the Strategy into practice in the part related to the establishment of a homeland security
system and related security risk management, crisis management and critical infrastructure
management. The Act makes key provisions to ensure the harmonized implementation of all
regulations governing security measures and procedures of national importance, in particular,
the protection of critical infrastructure (Croatian Parliament, 2017b). The last in a series of

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