Introduction
Someone who always fretted over code vulnerabilities, I found myself taken aback when Prof. Sy Goodman suggested our course was about everything but cybersecurity vulnerabilities that we deal with. Yet, as I delved deeper, I realized it was a gateway to understanding the 16 critical infrastructures shaping our world. Beyond our research paper, I explored cybersecurity nuances through unique avenues, dissecting the movie “Eye-in-the-sky” to grasp the elusive nature of cyber threats. Moreover, “The Resilience Dividend: Being Strong in a World Where Things Go Wrong” fundamentally altered my outlook on critical infrastructure, offering profound insights into their significance and resilience.
Problem & Concept
Imagine a world where everything from your morning cereal to the latest smartphone travels across oceans and continents in big metal boxes. That’s right, those shipping containers you see stacked high on cargo ships have become the unsung heroes of our globalized world, zipping essentials and luxuries alike across the globe. But here’s the twist: as much as we depend on these giant Lego blocks, any hiccup in their journey—like what we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic—can ripple out, leading to empty shelves and even critical shortages of medicine and food.
The pandemic turned the spotlight on just how crucial and fragile this system is. It wasn’t just about delays; it was a wake-up call on the security and resilience of our entire shipping infrastructure. This narrative isn’t just a tale of logistics; it’s a crucial part of our survival and comfort. The paper suggests that beefing up this infrastructure and implementing smarter, more resilient strategies could help keep our global lifelines strong and steady, preventing the next big disruption from turning into a crisis. Who knew those big metal boxes carried so much weight, both literally and figuratively?