A framework for risk criteria for critical infrastructures: fundamentals and case studies in the Netherlands

Critical infrastructures are complex societal systems. For that reason, risk criteria for criticalinfrastructures are also ‘part’ of the risk criteria for complex societal systems. The questionsto be resolved are: (1) are the societal risk criteria of complex systems defined and quantifiable;and (2) is it known how the risk criteria of critical infrastructures relate to the risk criteria ofthe complex system as a whole. In other words, what certainty is there that the risk criteriaof critical infrastructures meet the risk criteria of complex systems as a whole. A complexsystem in this respect may be a society as a whole, e.g. a nation.