research-article

Free access

Resiliency of the computerized society

Authors:

Eric J. NovotnyAuthors Info & Claims

AFIPS '83: Proceedings of the May 16-19, 1983, national computer conference

Pages 341 - 349

https://doi.org/10.1145/1500676.1500718

Published: 16 May 1983 Publication History

Abstract

Computers support nearly every functional area of a modern society. Consequently, when malfunctions or software errors occur, or when computing support is not available for other reasons, disruptions may result. In networked systems, disruptions may spread and seriously impair an entire functional area of the country. Has computerization produced a new vulnerability for society? Or is society intrinsically resilient and able to absorb large disruptions without grave and lasting societal consequences? This paper analyzes these and related questions. The conclusion is that modern societies (at least the United States) still appear to be resilient. Suggestions for maintaining resiliency are made.

References

[1]

"World Markets Forecast for 1982: U.S. Markets." Electronics, January 13, 1982.

[2]

Dolatta, T. A., M. I. Bernstein, R. S. Dickson, N. A. France, B. A. Rosenblatt, D. M. Smith, and T. B. Steel, Jr. Data Processing in 1980--1985. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1976.

[3]

Weiss, H. "The Weeks the Computers Stopped." Datamation, April 1967.

[4]

"Is the Computer Running Wild?" U.S. News & World Report, February 24, 1964.

[5]

Ministry of Defense, Sweden. The Vulnerability of the Computerized Society: Considerations and Proposals. (Translation.) Stockholm: The Ministry, December 1979.

[6]

"Workshop Stresses Dependence on Comptuers." Transnational Data Report, July/August 1981.

[7]

Nora, S., and A. Minc. The Computerization of Society: A Report to the President of France (Translation of 1978 Report). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1980.

[8]

"SPIN Conference Resolutions." IBI Newsletter, No. 27. Rome: International Bureau of Informatics, 1978.

[9]

Turn, R., E. J. Novotny, J. J. Geraghty, E. H. Sibley, and W. H. Ware. Observations on the Resiliency of the U.S. Information Society. Arlington, Va.: AFIPS Press, 1982.

[10]

Hoffman, L. J. "Impacts of Information System Vulnerabilities on Society." AFIPS, Proceedings of the National Computer Conference (Vol. 51), 1982, pp. 461--467.

Digital Library

[11]

Hsiao, D. A., D. S. Kerr, and S. E. Madnick. Computer Security. New York: Academic Press, 1979.

Digital Library

[12]

Turn, R. (ed.). Advances in Computer System Security. Dedham, Mass.: Artech House, 1981.

Digital Library

[13]

Kirchner, J. "AFIPS Finds U.S. Not Vulnerable in DP Disasters." Computerworld, June 28, 1982, p. 23.

[14]

Lerner, E. J. "Electromagnetic Pulses: Potential Crippler." IEEE Spectrum, May 1981, pp. 41--46.

[15]

Privacy Protection Study Commission. Personal Privacy in an Information Society. Report of the Commission (D. Linowes, Chairman). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1977.

[16]

Turn, R. (ed.). Transborder Data Flows: Privacy Protection and Free Flow of Information. Arlington, Va.: AFIPS Press, 1979.

[17]

Zientra, M. "Risk Analyses Said Needed to Determine Technology's Effects." Computerworld, June 28, 1982, p. 27.

[18]

Brandin, D. H. "The Horse or the Herring." ACM Communications, September 1982, pp. 597--598.

Digital Library

[19]

Walker, S. T. "The Advent of Trusted Operating Systems." AFIPS, Proceedings of the National Computer Conference (Vol. 49), 1980, pp. 655--665.

Digital Library

[20]

Turn, R. "Private Sector Needs for Trusted/Secure Computer Systems." AFIPS, Proceedings of the National Computer Conference (Vol. 51), 1982, pp. 449--460.

Digital Library

Cited By

Hoffman LMoran L(1986)Societal vulnerability to computer system failuresComputers and Security10.1016/0167-4048(86)90013-15:3(211-217)Online publication date: 1-Sep-1986
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/0167-4048%2886%2990013-1
Turn R(1986)Security, Privacy, Safety and Resiliency in ComputationSoftware System Design Methods10.1007/978-3-642-82846-1_24(653-679)Online publication date: 1986
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-82846-1_24

Resiliency of the computerized society
1. Applied computing
2. Social and professional topics

Recommendations

The Rise of the Network Society
Information society development in Eurasian economic union countries: legal aspects
ICEGOV '14: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance

The authors compare laws on information society covering post-Soviet countries, where integration is rapidly developing (Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia).The authors have developed a list of parameters for comparing the Strategies and Programs on ...
Dual-link failure resiliency through backup link mutual exclusion

Networks employ link protection to achieve fast recovery from link failures. While the first link failure can be protected using link protection, there are several alternatives for protecting against the second failure. This paper formally classifies ...

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Other conferences

AFIPS '83: Proceedings of the May 16-19, 1983, national computer conference

May 1983

808 pages

ISBN:0882830392

DOI:10.1145/1500676

Copyright © 1983 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Sponsors

AFIPS: American Federation of Information Processing Societies

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 16 May 1983

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Request Permissions

Check for updates

Qualifiers

Research-article

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

2
Total Citations
View Citations
128
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)45
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)10

Reflects downloads up to 07 Mar 2025

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Hoffman LMoran L(1986)Societal vulnerability to computer system failuresComputers and Security10.1016/0167-4048(86)90013-15:3(211-217)Online publication date: 1-Sep-1986
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/0167-4048%2886%2990013-1
Turn R(1986)Security, Privacy, Safety and Resiliency in ComputationSoftware System Design Methods10.1007/978-3-642-82846-1_24(653-679)Online publication date: 1986
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-82846-1_24

View Options

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

Figures

Tables

Media

View Table of Conten