This Week in Critical Infrastructure we look at President Trump’s new nominee for DHS Secretary, a new study on the effects of climate change on infrastructure in the U.S. Midwest region, and contributor pieces on the roles of business planning and artificial intelligence in cybersecurity.
Trump Nominates Kirstjen Nielsen As Next Homeland Security Secretary
From NPR, Jessica Taylor reports on the President Trump’s nomination of Kirstjen Nielsen to be the next Secretary of Homeland Security. Nielsen has been serving as White House chief of staff John Kelly’s deputy, and was formerly his chief of staff when Kelly was Trump’s first Secretary of Homeland Security.
Climate Change Threatens Midwest Infrastructure, Report Says
Mary Wisniewski from the Chicago Tribune writes on a new report from the Midwest Economics Policy Institute on the likely effects of climate change on transportation and infrastructure systems in the Midwest. Though coastal challenges related to hurricanes and rising ocean levels tend to dominate extreme weather discussions, rising average temperatures increasingly frequent heavy rainfall have caused power outrages and accelerated degradation of roadways, bridges, and rail lines.
Cyber Security Is A Business Risk, Not Just An IT Problem
In this Forbes contribution, Neil Campbell, Director of Security Solutions for Telstra, argues that companies need to move beyond outdated ideas about cybersecurity that cause leaders to think of security issues as matters for the IT department. Information and system security involves aspects of employee training, emergency planning, and risk management that require business solutions, not merely technical measures.
How Artificial Intelligence is Becoming a Key Weapon in the Cyber Security War
From PC World in Australia, Micheal Sentonas, VP of Technology for Crowdstrike, writes on the future of artificial intelligence (AI) in cyber security. Citing a new report from Telstra, the author makes an example of the rising threat of ransomware, which struck 60 percent of Australian organizations in the past 12 months, and argues that legacy antivirus technology is unable to react quickly enough to these and other emerging threats, with AI holding the key to improved reaction times and data loss prevention.