QG Media an ISMG Company Announces CS4CA USA Summit

Princeton, NJ, March 23, 2024 –QG Media, an ISMG company, announces the 12th edition of the Cyber Security for Critical Assets USA Summit (CS4CA USA). The summit is dedicated to strengthening the cyber resilience for critical assets, particularly those increasingly reliant on operational technology (OT) for their operations and management. Set to convene in Houston, Texas, on March 26 and 27, 2024, the two-day summit will gather global security leaders to network, learn and address the challenges of securing the nation’s critical assets.

Many organizations lack complete visibility into their legacy industrial control systems (ICS), used to monitor and control physical processes and machinery, including manufacturing, energy production, water treatment and transportation. This creates blind spots and leaves them vulnerable to undetected threats. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, the global cost of cybercrime is expected to reach a staggering $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, highlighting the impact on critical infrastructure security.

Keeping pace with the advancements in attacker techniques requires ongoing effort and collaboration between public and private organizations. CS4CA USA Summit serves as a critical meeting ground for the nation’s top CISOs, CIOs, heads of cybersecurity and IT, and specialists from oil and gas, energy, chemical, mining, utilities, power, maritime, and defense.

“The summit addresses the very challenges that leave critical assets vulnerable,” said Kudsia Kaker, managing director, QG Media. “By uniting IT and OT security leaders, process control engineers, SCADA/ICS security engineers, CS4CA USA Summit fosters knowledge exchange and strategy development.”

With key themes such as building a successful business case for OT cybersecurity, reducing risks in ICS environments and OT risk management, this edition of the CS4CA summit aims to empower attendees with in-depth discussions and insight-building sessions.

Headlining the summit with his keynote address, Brian Harrell, SVP and CSO of Avangrid, will delve into “Building Risk Management Strategies: From the SOC Floor to the Executive Boardroom.” Harrell’s expertise will guide attendees on effectively translating cyber risk into impactful boardroom discussions to drive security transformations. He will shed light on fostering a collaborative approach to risk management that resonates across all levels of an organization.

Traditional security operations centers (SOCs) have predominantly focused on IT environments, but the emergence of OT SOCs represents a necessary adaptation to address the unique challenges posed by OT cybersecurity. In a spotlight presentation titled, “The Advent of the OT SOC,” Christopher Johnson, principal director – industrial cybersecurity, WSP, will discuss the evolution of people, process and technologies for SOCs in the context of OT cybersecurity.

Other key sessions will shed light on end-to-end OT patch management, designing an effective OT security program, and mapping the organizational OT cybersecurity journey to governance and risk management, implementing consequence-driven engineering principles, securing advanced remote access platforms, and leveraging technologies such as AI/ML for enhanced threat detection.

“In today’s evolving threat landscape, the necessity for proactive and collective defense is essential for critical infrastructure. The CS4CA USA Summit allows security and IT professionals from various critical infrastructure organizations to share their experiences, best practices and lessons learned from past incidents,” said Jennifer Eisenhofer, VP – events, ISMG.

As critical infrastructure organizations navigate the complex terrain of cybersecurity, ISMG and QG Media recognize the paramount importance of staying ahead of evolving cyberthreats that place public safety, economic stability and national security at risk.