MIT Launches Consortium to Improve Infrastructure Cybersecurity

The MIT Sloan School of Management launched the Interdisciplinary Consortium for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, also known as (IC)3, yesterday. Using an interdisciplinary research approach, (IC)3 focuses on the strategic, managerial, and operational issues related to cybersecurity, and invites businesses to join the consortium.

 

“The cybersecurity of our critical infrastructure is a serious national security challenge," said MIT Sloan Dean David Schmittlein. "This new consortium will help MIT Sloan to make a deep and lasting impact in this area through interdisciplinary research and industry partnerships.”

 

(IC)3, which is pronounced “IC-cube”, includes diverse and interdisciplinary faculty, with professors from MIT Sloan, the School of Engineering, and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. The initiative also works in collaboration with industry partners across the entire infrastructure value chain. Partners include many Fortune 100 companies, NextNine, which provides cybersecurity software for hardening industrial control systems, three global corporations that currently wish to remain anonymous, and a number of major critical infrastructure companies that have indicated they plan to join (IC)3.

 

The consortium is being launched just a few weeks after U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft mentioned cybersecurity as a priority in his State of the Coast Guard address. Just a day before the address, the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, published a paper calling for increased port cybersecurity. Last June, the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a report calling on the DHS to better address port cybersecurity.

 

“MIT has played a long and historic role in addressing pressing challenges to the nation and the world, through initiatives from Radar to the Apollo Program, " said MIT Sloan Prof. Stuart Madnick, the academic director of (IC)3. "Now, we face a global crisis with the cybersecurity of our critical infrastructure that requires collaboration across a range of disciplines to find solutions. (IC)3 is uniquely positioned to lead the charge.”

 

“An important contribution of our consortium will be to produce metrics and models that organizations can use to measure all facets of cybersecurity and to make the best possible decisions on where to spend their money to give themselves the most effective protection.”

 

In addition, certain projects will be conducted in collaboration with international academic partners, initially Masdar Institute (Abu Dhabi) and Singapore University for Technology and Design.

 

Initial research project areas at (IC)3 include developing metrics and models for organizations for cyber-risk analysis, cybersecurity prevention failure research, cybersecurity resilience simulation and modeling, information sharing incentive development, and corporate adoption measurement.

 

“The MIT Sloan (IC)3 program offers an exciting new approach to protecting our critical infrastructure against an ever increasing threat landscape, improving our ability to meet national security priorities, securing our customers’ operations, and protecting the citizens they ultimately serve,"  said George Wrenn, CSO and vice president of cybersecurity at Schneider Electric. "We proudly support this key initiative with MIT.”

 

 (IC)3 is one of three new interrelated and collaborative programs at MIT covering the full breadth of cybersecurity issues. Recently, a $15 million grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation helped launch the MIT Cybersecurity Policy Initiative (CPI). CPI is administered by MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). The launch of CPI and (IC)3 also coincides with the launch of Cybersecurity@CSAIL, which is focused on technical aspects, such as programming languages, software verification, and computer architecture.