The Invisible Hand? Critical Information Infrastructures, Commercialisation and National Security

• Corporatisation of critical information infrastructure (CII) is rooted inthe ‘privatisation wave’ of the 1980s-90s, when the ground was laidfor outsourcing public utilities. Despite well-known risks relating toreliability, resilience, and accountability, commitment to efficiencyimperatives have driven governments to outsource key publicservices and infrastructures. A recent illustrative case with enormousimplications is the 2017 Swedish ICT scandal, where outsourcing ofCII caused major security breaches. With the transfer of the SwedishTransport Agency’s ICT system to IBM and subcontractors, classifieddata and protected identities were made accessible to non-vettedforeign private employees – sensitive data could thus now be inanyone’s hands. This case clearly demonstrates accountability gapsthat can arise in public-private governance of CII.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap -- Studier av offentlig förvaltning (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science -- Public Administration Studies (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

critical infrastructures

public-private partnership

PPP

privatisation

private finance initiative

PFI

computer netwroks

outsourcing

remote management

Sweden

Swedish ICT scandal

Information and Communication technologies

kritisk infrastruktur

offentlig-privat samverkan

OPS

privatisering

Information och Kommunikation Teknologier

Svensk IKT-skandal

utkontraktering

Transportstyrelsen

IBM

Politics, Economy and the Organization of Society

Statsvetenskap med inriktning mot krishantering och internationell samverkan

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)