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Policy in Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure A BTI Institute Lunch and Learn

Chris Bronk, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in Computer and Information Systems at the University of Houston, gave a presentation on the security of critical infrastructure of the United States from a cybersecurity perspective on April 17, 2019, in Houston, TX.


Dr. Bronk spoke briefly on the history of computers as a control mechanism for many of the world’s nation’s critical infrastructure. Critical infrastructure includes communication networks, energy infrastructure, emergency services, and financial services.


Dr. Bronk spoke to the agencies that shape the policies for cybersecurity in the United States. Currently, the Department of Homeland Security stood up the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) which has the mission to partner with industry and government to understand and manage risk to the Nation’s critical infrastructure, according to the DHS website.


“However,” said Dr. Bronk, noting the ten other U.S. government agencies responsible for a piece of critical infrastructure, “this is the space that all of these policies have to come from…to establish standards, guidelines, and frameworks.”

The presentation is here

Video

Speaker Biography

Dr. Chris Bronk is an assistant professor of computer and information systems and associate director of the Center for Information Security Research and Education. His research is focused in the area of cyber geopolitics with additional work in organizational innovation, knowledge management, and intelligence studies. Prior to arriving at the University of Houston, Bronk was the fellow for information technology policy at Rice University's Baker Institute. Previously, he was a software developer in a technology startup and then spent time as a Foreign Service Officer, finishing his tenure at the U.S. State Department's Office of eDiplomacy. In addition to significant work in the cyber security area he has published on issues including: broadband and wifi policy; IT sector energy consumption; intelligence and information sharing issues; and the area of computer security in the energy industry.Bronk has provided commentary and opinion for a variety of news outlets, including the New York Times, Foreign Policy, Der Spiegel, Scientific American, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, the BBC and the Houston Chronicle. Holding a Ph.D. from The Maxwell School of Syracuse University, Bronk also studied international relations at Oxford University and received a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

https://www.uh.edu/technology/departments/ilt/graduate/iss/faculty/?l=bronk&f=chris