DARPA highlights critical infrastructure security challenges

U.S. critical infrastructure sectors face a wide range of security challenges, forcing federal government leaders to find new advantages in the form of automation and artificial intelligence technologies.

In an RSAC Conference 2025 panel session, “AI and Cyber Defense: Protecting Critical Infrastructure,” federal officials discussed the ongoing cybersecurity risks that threaten various facets of critical infrastructure and what can be done to mitigate those risks. Participants included Kathleen Fisher, Office Director, Information Innovation Office at the US Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); Rob McHenry, Acting Director at DARPA; Vincent Tang, Deputy Director at Advanced Research Projects Agency for Infrastructure (ARPA-I); and Jennifer Roberts, Director of Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).

Critical infrastructure is, of course, a major, ongoing concern in security. The last few years have seen the Colonial Pipeline attack, a large number of severe critical infrastructure attacks Russia conducted in its invasion of Ukraine, and breaches of major US telecom companies by the Chinese nation-state threat group Salt Typhoon.

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