Using Risk-based Decisions to Transform Critical Infrastructure Resilience: An 'Electrifying' Case

Recent global news of power and communications disruptions highlight that, whether malicious cyberattack or unintentional error, risks to the availability and resilience of critical infrastructure need to be proactively mitigated. Princeton University shares how it protects what matters most—life safety—by transforming its critical infrastructure culture in a university-wide, risk-based effort. The life safety of students, faculty, and everyone on campus is grounded in critical infrastructure services that are supported by information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT). Shared cybersecurity concerns have fused networked IT and physical OT critical systems like power, communications, lighting, door locking, and fire alarms more than ever before. These separate functions, which evolved with diverse stakeholders of varying expertise, are challenging to synchronize. Princeton University will share how it is transforming culture in a collaborative, risk-based, decision-making model, where governance and processes bridge IT and OT activities to ensure resilience and high availability of critical infrastructure. We offer specific strategies to engage people, improve processes, and leverage technology to make your university critical infrastructure more secure and resilient. While the topic couldn’t be more important to all institutions, we’ll keep the session positive with light stories and interactive discussion.