Presidential Policy Directive 21 (PPD-21) advances a national policy to strengthen and maintain secure, functioning and resilient critical infrastructure that is vital to the public and to the Nation’s safety, prosperity and well-being. The Nation’s critical infrastructure is diverse and complex, but policies and procedures are needed to reduce vulnerabilities, minimize consequences, identify, and disrupt threats, and hasten response and recovery efforts related to potential critical infrastructure attacks.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the agency that replaced the National Protection and Programs Directorate, is responsible for maintaining, improving, and strengthening cybersecurity across all levels of government. These activities were initiated in 2018 when the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act was signed into law.
CISA is responsible for managing sixteen critical infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and networks whether physical or virtual, are considered to be extremely vital to the United States. If any of these systems or networks are weakened or destroyed, it would have a very devastating impact on the security, national economic security, and/or national public health or safety.
The Summit will address several of the critical infrastructure sectors on what is being done to mitigate the risk and protect the security of our Nation. In addition, the Summit will provide a special dedication and awards ceremony to the winners of the U.S. Cyber Challenge.
The U.S. Cyber Challenge serves as a premier program to identify, attract, recruit, train, and place the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. Top performers from different colleges and universities are offered award-winning training from top instructors on new concepts and approaches. During the cyber camps in the summer, those who qualify participate in discussions with leaders in the cyber field and teams are formed where they compete against others in the region in a "capture-the-flag" competition where the winners win scholarships and prizes. The winners from each region compete in a National CyberBowl in the fall and are acknowledged at the Cybersecurity Summit in October by representatives from the White House. The mission of this initiative is to identify and train cybersecurity experts to fill the workforce gap of cybersecurity professionals through a process of assessment, training and employment networking.
This event is being done in collaboration with ACT-IAC and the Center for Internet Security (CIS).
