Abstract
As society increasingly relies on computing and networks for commerce, government,
social services, entertainment, and communication, it also becomes more vulnerable to
accidents, disasters, criminal behavior, and malicious activity involving this crucial
infrastructure. However, the current infrastructure was simply not designed for the kind
of usage it is being put to today. An event that involves and/or affects the
computing/communications infrastructure in an extreme way is uncomfortably likely.
The recent outbreaks of denial-of-service attacks and computer viruses are, unfortunately,
the tip of a very large iceberg that is still largely out of the public view: What could
easily occur is orders of magnitude worse than what has occurred. Many events that
routinely occur today could easily take on an "extreme" character in the future, but two
prime candidates are financial fraud and accidental losses:
