Weaponized disinformation spread and its impact on multi-commodity critical infrastructure networks

Saeed Jamalzadeh; Lily Mettenbrink; Kash Barker; Andrés D. González; Sridhar Radhakrishnan; Jonas Johansson; Elena Bessarabova

doi:10.1016/j.ress.2023.109819

Weaponized disinformation spread and its impact on multi-commodity critical infrastructure networks

Saeed Jamalzadeh, Lily Mettenbrink, Kash Barker, Andrés D. González, Sridhar Radhakrishnan, Jonas Johansson, Elena Bessarabova

University of Oklahoma

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The well-publicized disinformation campaigns surrounding recent elections, pandemic vaccination adoption, as well as supply-chain disruptions and shortages have made historical problems of disinformation more apparent. When disinformation targets transportation infrastructure, supply chains can be disrupted, resulting in commodities shortages such as food and fuel, consequently jeopardizing the health and safety of communities. This research proposes an integrated epidemiological-optimization model that quantifies the impacts of weaponized disinformation on infrastructure networks that transport multiple commodities. The model aims to minimize the overall weighted shortage of commodities caused by different disinformation spread rates. Results show that disinformation weaponized against transportation infrastructure, potentially targeting a particular geographical region or a particular commodity, can have wide-ranging impacts across different commodities. The proposed model is applied to the multi-commodity Swedish railway network carrying 14 different categories of commodities over 1360 supply and demand nodes.

Original language	English
Article number	109819
Journal	Reliability Engineering and System Safety
Volume	243
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2023.109819
Publication status	Published - 2024 Mar

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was partially funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) [Award #2310470 ], a seed grant from the Data Institute for Societal Challenges (DISC) and the Oklahoma Aerospace and Defense Innovation Institute (OADII) at the University of Oklahoma , a fellowship from the Fulbright Finland Foundation , and the Centre for Critical Infrastructure Protection Research (CenCIP) at Lund University, Sweden . The contents expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions or views of the NSF, DISC/OADII, Fulbright Finland Foundation, or CenCIP.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd

Subject classification (UKÄ)

Transport Systems and Logistics

Free keywords

Critical infrastructure
Disinformation
Misinformation
Mixed integer programming
Multi-commodity network
Railway
SIR model

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.ress.2023.109819

Cite this

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title = "Weaponized disinformation spread and its impact on multi-commodity critical infrastructure networks",

abstract = "The well-publicized disinformation campaigns surrounding recent elections, pandemic vaccination adoption, as well as supply-chain disruptions and shortages have made historical problems of disinformation more apparent. When disinformation targets transportation infrastructure, supply chains can be disrupted, resulting in commodities shortages such as food and fuel, consequently jeopardizing the health and safety of communities. This research proposes an integrated epidemiological-optimization model that quantifies the impacts of weaponized disinformation on infrastructure networks that transport multiple commodities. The model aims to minimize the overall weighted shortage of commodities caused by different disinformation spread rates. Results show that disinformation weaponized against transportation infrastructure, potentially targeting a particular geographical region or a particular commodity, can have wide-ranging impacts across different commodities. The proposed model is applied to the multi-commodity Swedish railway network carrying 14 different categories of commodities over 1360 supply and demand nodes.",

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note = "Funding Information: This research was partially funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) [Award #2310470 ], a seed grant from the Data Institute for Societal Challenges (DISC) and the Oklahoma Aerospace and Defense Innovation Institute (OADII) at the University of Oklahoma , a fellowship from the Fulbright Finland Foundation , and the Centre for Critical Infrastructure Protection Research (CenCIP) at Lund University, Sweden . The contents expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions or views of the NSF, DISC/OADII, Fulbright Finland Foundation, or CenCIP. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 Elsevier Ltd",

year = "2024",

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doi = "10.1016/j.ress.2023.109819",

language = "English",

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AU - Radhakrishnan, Sridhar

AU - Johansson, Jonas

AU - Bessarabova, Elena

N1 - Funding Information: This research was partially funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) [Award #2310470 ], a seed grant from the Data Institute for Societal Challenges (DISC) and the Oklahoma Aerospace and Defense Innovation Institute (OADII) at the University of Oklahoma , a fellowship from the Fulbright Finland Foundation , and the Centre for Critical Infrastructure Protection Research (CenCIP) at Lund University, Sweden . The contents expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions or views of the NSF, DISC/OADII, Fulbright Finland Foundation, or CenCIP. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2024/3

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N2 - The well-publicized disinformation campaigns surrounding recent elections, pandemic vaccination adoption, as well as supply-chain disruptions and shortages have made historical problems of disinformation more apparent. When disinformation targets transportation infrastructure, supply chains can be disrupted, resulting in commodities shortages such as food and fuel, consequently jeopardizing the health and safety of communities. This research proposes an integrated epidemiological-optimization model that quantifies the impacts of weaponized disinformation on infrastructure networks that transport multiple commodities. The model aims to minimize the overall weighted shortage of commodities caused by different disinformation spread rates. Results show that disinformation weaponized against transportation infrastructure, potentially targeting a particular geographical region or a particular commodity, can have wide-ranging impacts across different commodities. The proposed model is applied to the multi-commodity Swedish railway network carrying 14 different categories of commodities over 1360 supply and demand nodes.

AB - The well-publicized disinformation campaigns surrounding recent elections, pandemic vaccination adoption, as well as supply-chain disruptions and shortages have made historical problems of disinformation more apparent. When disinformation targets transportation infrastructure, supply chains can be disrupted, resulting in commodities shortages such as food and fuel, consequently jeopardizing the health and safety of communities. This research proposes an integrated epidemiological-optimization model that quantifies the impacts of weaponized disinformation on infrastructure networks that transport multiple commodities. The model aims to minimize the overall weighted shortage of commodities caused by different disinformation spread rates. Results show that disinformation weaponized against transportation infrastructure, potentially targeting a particular geographical region or a particular commodity, can have wide-ranging impacts across different commodities. The proposed model is applied to the multi-commodity Swedish railway network carrying 14 different categories of commodities over 1360 supply and demand nodes.

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Weaponized disinformation spread and its impact on multi-commodity critical infrastructure networks

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Subject classification (UKÄ)

Free keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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