Legal Aspects of Cybersecurity Artur Appazov

7.2
 
Standardization and Air-Gapped Networks 
Standardization can be seen as both an advantage and a disadvantage. Standards are 
necessary for the interoperability of products by multiple vendors. Interoperability is 
critical in communications and national infrastructure, including the national power grid 
and the medical and financial establishments. The result of the tens of thousands of 
standards in use toda, is a world that is massively interconnected. The interoperability in 
critical infrastructural assets helps prevent and hinder cybersecurity risks through, for 
example, development of improved standards for browser security, application security, 
and e-mail authentication.
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With increased interconnection and unified standards, however, comes increased 
vulnerability, both to external and internal threats.
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The use of identical security 
processes on every computer network does not seem to be an optimal solution – at least 
not without weighing the competing costs.
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The negative effect of interoperability is 
greater potential vulnerability of the entire system, which is easier access to the rest of the 
systems once a part of it is compromised. This includes spread of viruses and other 
malware, as well as hacking. The defense for such systems should be absolutely 
impenetrable to outweigh for the risks, which in itself is a rather remote possibility, if a 
possibility at all. 
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Teplinsky, A
MERICAN 
U
NIVERSITY 
B
USINESS 
L
AW 
R
EVIEW
, 313-314 (2013). 
163
Kelly, B
OSTON 
U
NIVERSITY 
L
AW 
R
EVIEW
, 1685-1686 (2012). 
164
Contreras, et al., A
MERICAN 
U
NIVERSITY 
L
AW 
R
EVIEW
, 1117 (2013). 
165
Id. at. 
166
Shane, T
EXAS 
L
AW 
R
EVIEW
, (2012). 

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Some commentators suggest disconnecting critical system networks from the internet 
entirely;
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such systems as power generation and water distribution, core services the 
nation depends on to remain functioning. The security industry refers to this process as 
creating an “air gap” between supercritical systems and the general network. Air gaps may 
be somewhat burdensome, but the security payoff is unparalleled: air-gapped systems are 
fully isolated and practically impervious unless an attacker manages to physically access 
the system.
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