Analysis of Factors Influencing Cybersecurity in Railway Critical Infrastructure: A Case Study of Taiwan Railway Corporation, Ltd.

The present study investigated factors influencing cybersecurity in railway critical infrastructure by identifying relevant factors and criteria and then prioritizing them in order of importance. To address the lack of multi-criteria analysis in previous studies on this topic, the present study applied the analytical hierarchy process to identify factors and criteria influencing cybersecurity and then selected the top 70% of influencing criteria to serve as a reference for railway cybersecurity project management. A total of 25 valid expert questionnaires were collected for weight vector analysis, revealing that the influencing criteria in the top 70% were inability to monitor train occupancy in track sections (locations); inability of controllers to issue commands to safety control systems; inability to provide drivers with information on upcoming signals, block status, and train occupancy; failure to automatically apply brakes when the train exceeds the speed limit; increased risk of catastrophic accidents due to power system security vulnerabilities; and inability of the dispatching system to automatically track train numbers.