Center for Infrastructure Protection & Homeland Security

In the News – This Week in Critical Infrastructure: Week of October 23, 2017

This Week in Critical Infrastructure we look at the latest from Puerto Rico’s continuing effort to recover from Hurricane Maria, a survey of failing infrastructure across the United States, and a piece arguing for increased efforts to attract women to the cybersecurity workforce as a way to address the growing skills gap in that industry.


States That Are Falling Apart

From 24/7 Wall St., Samuel Stebbins writes on infrastructure needs across all fifty states with an emphasis on highways, bridges, airports, and dams. This broad survey examines the repair and replacement needs of the states through a rough ranking of required investment.

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How the Cybersecurity Industry Can Close the Growing Skills Gap

In this brief for CIO Dive, Naomi Eide argues that the key to closing the skills gap in the cybersecurity industry is increasing accessibility to the technology job market for women. With women holding only 11 percent of cybersecurity jobs, the labor shortage that accounts for approximately 300,000 vacant security positions is at least partly attributable to the lack of clear career pathways for women in the tech sector.

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Report Says Ongoing Power Outage In Puerto Rico Is Worst Electricity Failure In U.S. History

From Jason Beaubien for NPR’s All Things Considered, a report released Thursday by the Rhodium Group describes the continuing power outage in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria as the worst electricity failure in U.S. history. Over one month after the storm, around three quarters of the island is still without power.

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