A method for identifying cascading effects in past events as an input to a decision support tool

Increasing interdependencies between critical infrastructures have made these systems more effective, but also more susceptible to cascading failures. In order to reduce the likelihood and consequences of cascading failures, it is essential to develop tools that support incident commander decisions so that an initial failure does not spread to other infrastructures. Here, a framework for generating knowledge from previous events that can feed in to such a tool is outlined. Design science is used to this end which provides a transparent and systematic approach. Moreover, the paper presents an analysis of existing empirical approaches focusing on identifying methodological aspects that can influence the framework. Although further work is needed, the work presented in this paper shows a promising first step to accomplish such a framework.