NUARI President at CYDEF 2022

On Friday, December 2, NUARI president Phil Susmann moderated a virtual panel of international experts to discuss “Critical Infrastructure Protection Activities and Military Support” for the CYDEF 2022 Cyber Defense Conference in Tokyo, Japan. CYDEF 2022, the largest cyber defense conference in Japan, featured cyber defense experts from around the world, with the cooperation of research institutions such as the NATO Cyber Defense Cooperation Center and the U.S. Army Cyber Institute.

The theme of this year’s four-day conference was “Defending the Continuity of Light in the Gray Zone,” expanding on the thought that “Cyberspace is seen as a dark “gray zone,” as it is not palpable or visible, has no borders, limited rule of law, and is full of ambiguity. However, human wisdom and determination bring light to this cyberspace, preventing it from becoming entirely absorbed in darkness. CYDEF 2022 sheds light on cyber defense with experts outlining their approaches to cyber defense.”

CYDEF 2022 featured over 50 speakers and had over 600 registrants.

In his introduction of the panel, discussing Critical Infrastructure Protection Activities and Military Support (Crisis Response Perspective) (Operations), Phil spoke on the need for cooperation between the private sector and national authorities, emphasizing the point and highlighting the theme that - “The private sector in critical infrastructure must be able to withstand the first punch before there can be a response from the national authorities if there is a significant cyber activity that takes place.”

Phil opened the panel with a brief presentation of the response taken by national authorities in the United States following a cyber attack on a sector of our critical infrastructure. Phil’s expertise and role as the president of NUARI, an organization that has worked within both the public and private sectors to improve responses to crises, allowed him to speak from authority and experience to the evolution of response activities that the U.S. has implemented when facing cyber-attacks.

Phil’s opening set the stage for presentations from the panelists who compared and contrasted defense support to civilian authority in the event of a catastrophic cyber-attack within each country.

Madeleine Myatt, a Doctoral Researcher and Security Analyst from Bielefeld University in Germany, highlighted “Cyber Resilience from a German and U.K. Perspective.” BG Paulo Nunes, the President of Siresp, spoke on “Public Protection and Disaster Recovery of a Communications Network and Operating in a Crisis Scenario.” Anand Prasad, a partner with Deloitte specializing in Emerging Tech & Connectivity Security - spoke on “Critical Mobile Infrastructure and securing 5G communications”. The last presenter was Tomoo Yamauchi, the Deputy Director-General of the National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity, Cabinet Secretariat (Japan), who spoke on “Japan’s Cyber Security Strategy and Critical Infrastructure Protection.”

Following the panelist presentations, an open discussion session rounded out the conference segment as the gathered group discussed the highlights of the military and the private sector, how specifically organizations would engage the national authorities, and at what point the national authorities become involved protecting and defending critical infrastructure.