Billington Summit Tackles Critical Infrastructure Cyber Risks

As cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure grow increasingly sophisticated and disruptive, the Inaugural Billington Critical Infrastructure CyberSecurity Summit will bring together senior government, military, and industry leaders Nov. 17-18 in San Antonio to examine the threats facing the systems that power, connect, transport, and sustain the nation. Hosted by Billington CyberSecurity at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, the summit is the first national event to bring together all four critical infrastructure lifeline sectors — energy, communications, transportation, and water — to address their growing cyber interdependencies and the consequences of attacks that can cross sector boundaries.

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“With attacks rapidly escalating, critical infrastructure cybersecurity can no longer be viewed as a problem for individual organizations or sectors.”

“With attacks rapidly escalating, critical infrastructure cybersecurity can no longer be viewed as a problem for individual organizations or sectors. The Billington Critical Infrastructure CyberSecurity Summit will convene senior decisionmakers to discuss how lifeline systems connect, how adversaries can exploit those connections, and how government and industry can work together before, during, and after an attack,” said Troy Schneider, president, Billington CyberSecurity.

Among the most pressing issues on the summit agenda are:

• Nation-state attacks and cyber prepositioning: How China, Russia, Iran, and other adversaries are targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and preparing for potential disruption.
• AI-powered cyber threats: How artificial intelligence is changing the speed, scale, and sophistication of cyberattacks — and how AI can be used to strengthen defenses.
• Cascading infrastructure failures: How an attack on one lifeline sector can disrupt others and potentially affect public safety, national security, and the economy.
• Cyber-informed engineering: Designing infrastructure with cybersecurity and resilience built into systems from the outset.
• Critical infrastructure supply-chain security: Protecting the technologies, components, services, and suppliers that underpin essential infrastructure.
• Water-sector cybersecurity: Addressing the growing vulnerability of water systems and the need for stronger protections and collaboration, including a focused discussion on Project Watershed 250 – the pilot program launched by the White House Office of the National Cyber Director, the Office of the Governor of Texas, the Texas Cyber Command, and private-sector partners.
• Quantum readiness: Preparing critical infrastructure for emerging quantum-enabled threats and the need for cryptographic resilience.
• Infrastructure investment and modernization: Examining how cybersecurity, resilience, and risk must factor into the modernization of America’s infrastructure.
• Public-private collaboration: Strengthening information sharing and coordinated response between government and the private sector.

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The urgency of these discussions has increased as adversaries target U.S. critical infrastructure. The summit comes amid attacks attributed to Chinese state-sponsored groups, as well as cyber operations by Russian and Iranian actors on U.S. infrastructure. More than 80% of U.S. critical infrastructure is owned or operated by the private sector, making public-private collaboration essential to protecting the systems that deliver essential services.

The summit will feature leaders from federal agencies, the military, state governments, utilities, laboratories, information-sharing organizations, and the private sector. More than 80 speakers are confirmed and include representatives from CISA, the FBI, Texas Cyber Command, the Texas Department of Information Resources, the Texas Department of Public Safety, Idaho National Laboratory, state cybersecurity offices, and the utility community.

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The National Council of ISACs is the summit’s official Community ISAC partner and is working with Billington on audience engagement and cross-sector collaboration. The summit is also co-located with the GovRAMP Cyber Summit, providing state, local, tribal, and territorial government security leaders an opportunity to participate in both convenings.