A one-day workshop entitled “Cooperative Security in Critical Infrastructure Resilience in Cyberspace,” was held Oct. 7 at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu.

A total of 25 participants from 8 countries convened to discuss the opportunities and challenges of ensuring the resilience of a nation’s critical infrastructure sectors such as energy, transportation, banking, healthcare, and communications in cyberspace. This focus is a shared interest among many, interdependent stakeholders on different levels, including the public and private sectors as well as the federal and state government.

DKI APCSS Director Pete Gumataotao (seated head of table) helps facilitate a breakout session.

A unique aspect of this workshop was that participants were fully merged with the ongoing Advanced Security Cooperation Course (ASC) 19-2, with four panel sessions throughout the day. Topics for these sessions were:

  • Critical Infrastructure Resilience in Cyberspace: Opportunities and Challenges for Cooperation
  • The 2018 Department of Defense Cyber Strategy: Critical Infrastructure Resilience through Partnerships and Cooperation
  • Defending Forward Together: The Partnership Paradox?
  • Building Capacity, Confidence, and Cooperation in Critical Infrastructure Resilience

“For a one-day workshop involving cybersecurity professionals of different backgrounds, we covered a lot of ground – from a discussion on human resources to higher-level policy imperatives,’ said Assoc. Prof. Elina Noor, workshop lead. “Our panel sessions in particular were very productive, a lot of unique perspectives and experience were brought forward in the interactions between the ASC Fellows and workshop participants. There was also a candid, substantive discussion among the workshop experts, themselves.”

This workshop had five primary objectives focused on advancing critical infrastructure resilience in cyberspace:

  1. To underscore the importance of partnership and cooperation in defending critical infrastructure against cyber attacks throughout the region.
  2. To unpack the implications and impact of several foundational elements within the 2018 Department of Defense Cyber Strategy on private sector and regional partners.
  3. To explore, through lessons learned and best practices from within the United States and the region, how to more effectively foster trust and confidence-building measures between public and private sector stakeholders.
  4. To establish a regional network of professionals committed to dialogue, and to building trust and confidence for cooperative security in cyberspace.
  5. To obtain regional perspectives on how DKI APCSS can best add value to better addressing issues of Indo-Pacific security in cyberspace.

The day-long activities concluded in the Center Conference Room.

The workshop marked a step towards fostering a regional network of public and private sector professionals committed to building trust and confidence for cooperative security in cyberspace.