Engineering Cybersecurity into U.S. Critical Infrastructure: The Biden administration is calling on organizations to build defenses into system designs, rather than relying on IT protections alone.

The article focuses on the Biden administration’s National Cybersecurity Strategy, which advocates for integrating cybersecurity into the engineering design of U.S. critical infrastructure systems, rather than relying solely on traditional IT protections. It highlights the Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) initiative to educate engineers in cyber-informed engineering (CIE), a practice that involves designing systems to anticipate, prevent, and mitigate cyberattacks by identifying critical functions and engineering controls early in the design process. Using examples such as municipal water utilities, the article illustrates how engineered controls and active defense strategies can enhance resilience against cyber threats. This approach aims to improve the security and reliability of essential infrastructure by embedding cybersecurity considerations into physical system design and operational response planning.