A View from the Eighty-Fourth Floor
Sheri Givens is President and CEO of the Smart Electric Power Alliance.
Atop the World Trade Center on the eighty-fourth floor, taking in the sweeping views of New York City, the panorama didn’t take center stage — the cyber threats aimed at our nation’s critical infrastructure held everyone’s attention over the course of a sunny summer afternoon.
In July, I had the privilege of joining national security leaders, utility executives, cybersecurity experts, and public-private collaborators at the Qrypt-hosted summit on critical infrastructure (CI) protection. With cyber threats evolving in stealth, sophistication, and scale, it is no exaggeration to say that this gathering was a wake-up call, and a roadmap, for utilities and regulators alike.
The Stakes: $329 Billion and Counting
From the outset, the tone was serious. According to a Marsh study cited early in the program, a staggering three hundred twenty-nine billion dollars is at risk in the operational technology (OT) domain alone. The criticality of this infrastructure cannot be overstated whether energy, water, telecom, or finance, these are the sectors that underpin society itself.
McKinsey’s strategic briefing, led by Ida Kristensen, emphasized a fundamental point: most critical infrastructure is privately owned, yet deeply interdependent with public functions. Definitions of critical must be inclusive, and scenarios must be mapped with cascading impacts in mind.