Stress-testing the resilience of critical infrastructures exposed to polycrises triggered by emerging risks

This article introduces a new approach for stress-testing the resilience of critical infrastructures exposed or potentially exposed to adverse events, polycrises, or disasters. This approach focuses on extreme threats (x-threats or XTs) and the functionality testing during such events. The methodology relies on resilience indicators, considering both the threat side and the asset side of adverse events. This enables simultaneous consideration of factors such as increased intensity, impact potential, complexity, systemic risks, and interconnectedness or cascading effects.

The resilience of critical infrastructures is analyzed across phases of the resilience cycle: analysis of potential risk, preparation, absorption, recovery, and adaptation/transformation. The proposed stress-testing approach builds on the author’s previous work in EU projects and standards organizations (ISO—the International Organization for Standardization, DIN—German Institute for Standardization), incorporating recent developments like the EU regulations (the Critical Entities Resilience CER Directive) and the use of AI in resilience analysis. Specifically, it extends the stress-testing concept proposed in DIN SPEC 91461 and links it to applications for resilience assessment within EU projects and industry.