Quantitative evaluation of the synergistic effects of failures in a critical infrastructure system

This paper focuses on quantitatively assessing the impacts of critical infrastructure failures. It presents a theory of synergistic linkages, their levels and the synergistic effects due to the joint action of impacts, which increase the overall impact on the critical infrastructure and on society. The concepts are formalized in the SYNEFIA methodology, which is applied in a case study involving the critical infrastructure of the Czech Republic. In particular, the methodology is applied to determine the synergistic effects of disruptions to multiple sub-sectors of the Czech infrastructure.