Overview

The new Cybersecurity Fundamentals course for water and wastewater utility professionals will provide a general overview of cybersecurity program development. This online course will give organizational leaders a practical knowledge of basic security measures that can be implemented to address major cyber risks associated with the most common cyber attacks.  Water and Wastewater industry leaders attending this course will learn about the most common cyber threats, specific counter measures that can be employed by any organization, and the role organizational culture plays in impacting risk-mitigating activities against water and wastewater facilities’ critical infrastructure. Leaders will also develop an understanding of how people, processes and technology all work together to improve cyber defense efforts.

The key take-away from this course is to provide organizational leadership with knowledge needed to be able to ask their team of cyber security professionals the right questions when conducting and internal assessment of their organization’s cybersecurity posture and ability to be resilient to cyber attacks.

Learning Outcomes

• Analyze leading trends in next-gen cyber challenges and innovative solutions
• Discuss social engineering tactics and business email compromise mitigation
• Review risk management methodology and assessments
• Communicate strategies for effective cybersecurity prioritization
• Distinguish important information on cyber contracting and litigation

MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2023

Introduction to Cyber Threat for Water and Wastewater Utilities

• The Most Common Cyber Threat Attack Vectors
• Who Are the Attackers and What Do They Want?
• The Basics about Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) Teams
• The Water ISAC Best Practices
• Cybersecurity Policy and IT Security Frameworks
• The Types of Assessments and Why You Would Use Them

Social Engineering

• Phishing, Vishing, Smishing
• Other Social Engineering Methods
• Being Smart in the Digital World

Business Email and other Media Compromises

• Definition
• Supply Chain
• Process Control
• Procurement Controls
• Email Security
• Social Media and Related Security

Lunch Break

Open Discussion on Ransomware and Other Common Malware Variants

General Overview of Technical Counter Measures

• Cybersecurity Hardware
• Cybersecurity Software
• The Cloud
• Basic Enterprise Architecture

General Overview of Defensive Architecture

• Defining Zero Trust
• Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
• Defense in Depth

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2023

Basic Elements of Incident Response (Responding to Cyber Attacks)

• Cyber Incident Management Framework
• Communications Planning
• Cyber Incident Walk Through

Cyber Resiliency

• Emergency Response Plan
• The Triad of Emergency Response Planning – Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery and Cyber Incident Response
• Continuity of Operations Plan or Disaster Recovery Plan
  • Crisis management teams
  • Manuel overrides and temporary manual operations
  • System redundancy

Assessing Risk and Making Risk-Based Decisions

• Cyber Risks are different from Financial, and Operational Risks
• Using Threat, Cybersecurity Assessments, Audits and Penetration Tests
• Developing Meaningful Compensating Controls
• Creating the Realistic Risk Assessment

Establishing the Value Proposition for Cybersecurity

Wrap up and Adjourn

Dr. Christopher Carter, Chief Information Officer (CIO), a Maryland Water Utility

Dr. Carter is an experienced IT and Cybersecurity leader with a Doctorate in Information Assurance and has cultivated process expertise across diverse mission disciplines. In his current role as the Chief Information Officer for a Maryland Water Utility, he is the executive responsible for directing and managing the Information Technology Department. He leads a client-focused and process-based unit of staff, consultants, and implementation support specialists, who work to ensure that IT programs and Service Delivery are securely designed and implemented while being fiscally responsible and in full alignment with senior leadership’s strategic goals and objectives. He was formerly the Technical Director for Cybersecurity at Diplomatic Security at the State Department, and has held several other Cybersecurity leadership roles in other civil agencies and the DOD.

Dr. Carter was formally trained as an architect with a minor in Solar Technologies in Colorado in the early 1980s, and maintains deep technical expertise across multiple domains, including Federal and State IT security and IT Service Management. He holds several industry certifications including a CISSP, CISM, ITIL Expert, and Project Management Professional. His specialties include architecture and cybersecurity planning, developing integrated security programs and solving IT service transformation challenges for large public organizations. Dr. Carter has taught a variety of IT courses, including the full set of Cisco CCNP courses, ITIL courses, IT security, and database development courses in the Federal Government.

Christopher’s outside interests are as varied as his education. He is an avid craftsman, having developed expertise in ceramics and having built several acoustic guitars. His other leadership experience includes Toastmasters Club President, Boy Scouts Assistant Scout Master and wilderness expedition leader, SCUBA rescue diver and instructor, and Certified Professional Building designer of solar buildings and integrated green energy systems.