“PNT vulnerability very much top of mind” says Assistant Secretary

We were misinformed that the DHS Cyber Summit was not going to include discussion of PNT issues.

DHS’ Acting Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection, Bob Kolasky told us that PNT issues will be addressed at several points throughout the day. “PNT vulnerability is very much top-of-mind for us” he said, and that the department was sharpening its focus on the issue.

Kolasky will be facilitating a panel session at the Summit focused on national critical functions and plans to highlight PNT as one of those functions. “Moving forward from the summit, we plan to accelerate our PNT resilience work as part of our national risk management efforts,” said Kolasky.

While neither PNT nor GPS was mentioned in the DHS Cybersecurity Strategy released in May, their inclusion in this event is an encouraging development.

The announcement for the DHS National Cyber Summit is here, though it will not be open to the public.

Department of Homeland Security to Host National Cybersecurity Summit

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will host a National Cybersecurity Summit on July 31, 2018 at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York City, New York. The DHS National Cybersecurity Summit will bring together a broad group of representatives from across government including officials from Department of Defense, National Security Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Energy, and Department of Treasury. They will be joined by academia and industry CEOs across sectors including telecom, financial, and energy to lay out a vision for a collective defense model to protect our nation’s critical infrastructure. Through panels, keynote addresses, and breakout sessions, the summit will serve as a launching point for a number of DHS initiatives to advance cybersecurity and critical infrastructure risk management.

LINK TO SUMMIT ANNOUNCEMENT 

James Caverly, Department of Homeland Security, 2014