The floods in southern Germany have once again shown how important functioning telecommunications networks are in such disaster situations. Which residential areas need to be evacuated? Which roads are safe to drive on? Where have emergency shelters been set up? How can I report to the fire department that water has entered my cellar? Emergency hotlines and cell phone apps such as NINA or KATWARN provide citizens with real-time information about the current situation in their region. If telephone, mobile or data networks fail, all these services are no longer available.
The EU's NIS2 Directive on cyber security therefore clearly requires network operators to protect not only the network technology itself, but also its "physical environment" from "events such as theft, fire, flooding and telecommunications or power outages". This primarily refers to passive infrastructures such as shafts, pipes, operating and monitoring rooms. The technical solutions for this are available from LASER COMPONENTS, for example.
Fiber optic infrastructure sensors react to various changes in their environment, such as temperature fluctuations or humidity. Most of these sensors are purely optical and therefore do not require their own power supply. The signals are transmitted over the existing fiber optic cable. Up to 80 different sensors and detectors can be connected to a single fiber.
Of course, these systems do not prevent all damage. However, they ensure that network operators can react promptly to changes and that the population is provided with vital information quickly and reliably.
„The situation in the Bavarian flood areas shows once again that the legal requirements for the protection of critical infrastructures do not exist for nothing," says Dr. Andreas Hornsteiner, head of the Network Technology business unit at LASER COMPONENTS. "The new EU directive is expected to be implemented into German law this year and provides for draconian penalties in some cases. However, these should not be the main motivation for protecting KRITIS. The focus should always be on the safety of the population and the public."
