ABSTRACT
Modern information processing systems are invariably interconnected either directly or indirectly to other systems, which constitute the environment. This environment could be the Internet, or alternatively, it could be a set of components used by the system in question. Because such a system is crucially affected by the dependability of the other systems in the environment, it makes no sense to focus only on the dependability of the system under consideration. A hands-off approach would not work here.
