Federal agencies, military cyber professionals, utilities, academia and industry will convene August 25 to tackle critical infrastructure security and the workforce needed to defend it.
Protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure increasingly requires more than technology. It requires coordination among the federal government, military, infrastructure operators, academia and the private-sector professionals who understand how to secure the systems communities depend on every day.
That cross-sector collaboration will be the focus of the Central Virginia National Security Alliance (CVNSA) Critical Infrastructure Protection Forum, taking place August 25, 2026, from 9 a.m. to noon at Piedmont Virginia Community College’s Bolick Auditorium.
The forum is designed to assess and strengthen the cyber and physical resilience of Central Virginia’s critical infrastructure. Organizers plan to bring together federal, military, academic, utility and private-sector partners to share threat intelligence, examine collaborative defense models and explore training and technology solutions. A particular focus will be the potential for a regional cyber range to support workforce development and readiness.
For the cleared and national security workforce, the event highlights an important reality: critical infrastructure cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly multidisciplinary mission.
From the Cyber Threat to the Operational Response
The morning begins with a look at the threat itself.
The FBI Richmond Field Office Cyber Squad is scheduled to deliver opening remarks on the cyber threat landscape, including current and emerging threats affecting critical infrastructure across Virginia and the mid-Atlantic. The session will also examine the FBI’s role in intelligence sharing, incident response and private-sector partnerships, as well as threats relevant to water, wastewater and municipal systems.
The discussion questions prepared for the forum point toward the operational issues participants will be tackling: the tactics being used against water and wastewater systems, how quickly utilities can engage federal law enforcement after a suspected intrusion, barriers to information sharing, and the early warning signs municipal IT teams should understand.
Those are not theoretical concerns. They sit at the intersection of cybersecurity, public safety and national security and they require professionals who can communicate across organizational boundaries.
Where Military Cyber Meets Civilian Infrastructure
The forum will also examine how military cyber capabilities can support civilian infrastructure defense.
A briefing from the 91st Cyber Brigade will explore offensive and defensive cyber capabilities, the Defense Support to Civil Authorities framework, examples of military-civilian cyber coordination and opportunities for continued collaboration with Central Virginia utilities and jurisdictions.
The planned discussion goes a step further, asking what triggers military cyber support to civilian utilities, what lessons have emerged from CYBER FORTRESS exercises, what legal or jurisdictional constraints can affect assistance during an incident, and how utilities can establish relationships with military cyber organizations *before* a crisis occurs.
That last point may be one of the most important themes of the event: resilience depends on relationships built before an incident, not introductions made during one.
Protecting the Systems That Keep Communities Running
At 10 a.m., representatives from Central Virginia water and wastewater utilities, the University of Virginia and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are scheduled to participate in a panel focused on critical infrastructure cybersecurity.
Topics include the current cybersecurity posture of regional water and wastewater systems, vulnerabilities in operational technology (OT) and SCADA environments, lessons from incidents and near-misses, and needs involving training, threat intelligence, incident response and coordination among utilities. The academic side of the discussion will explore research involving data science, machine learning and network analysis, along with pathways for developing the next generation of infrastructure security professionals.
Utility operators will be asked to identify gaps between their current OT/SCADA security posture and where they need to be. UVA representatives will address systems-based approaches to infrastructure protection and how students can become job-ready for utility and municipal cybersecurity roles. CISA representatives will discuss what makes a utility “resilience-ready” and the challenges involved in protecting physical infrastructure.
For cybersecurity professionals, those topics also point toward a growing career opportunity. Securing critical infrastructure demands people who understand not just enterprise IT, but operational technology, industrial systems, incident response, threat intelligence and the unique constraints of environments where availability and physical operations matter.
Building a Regional Cyber Training Pipeline
Workforce development will take center stage later in the morning with a presentation on Piedmont Virginia Community College’s proposed cyber range.
The planned facility would serve utility operators, local government IT personnel, private-sector partners and students. The forum will examine potential simulation scenarios involving water and wastewater OT systems and municipal networks, along with the resources, partnerships and governance needed to establish the range as part of Central Virginia’s broader national security ecosystem.
A regional capability like this could help close one of cybersecurity’s persistent workforce gaps: giving professionals hands-on experience in environments that replicate the systems they may eventually be responsible for defending.
Creating Connections Before the Next Cyber Incident
The final portion of the forum will shift from presentations to partnership.
Regional private-sector firms will highlight capabilities in cybersecurity, OT protection, threat monitoring and incident response and discuss opportunities to collaborate with utilities, municipalities, PVCC, UVA and federal partners.
Participants will then move into a cross-sector working discussion centered on shared vulnerabilities, shortcomings in information sharing, the potential role of the PVCC cyber range and commitments organizations can make before the group meets again. The forum is expected to conclude with identified action items and plans for a follow-on working group.
That makes the event noteworthy beyond Central Virginia.
The cyber defense of water systems, municipal networks and other critical infrastructure cannot belong to any single agency, employer or sector. It requires federal investigators who understand the threat, military cyber professionals who understand complex operations, infrastructure operators who know their systems, researchers developing new approaches, companies capable of deploying solutions and a workforce trained to connect all of those pieces.
The CVNSA Critical Infrastructure Protection Forum offers a local example of what that national security ecosystem can look like when those communities are brought into the same room.
For ClearanceJobs professionals working in cybersecurity, intelligence, defense, infrastructure protection and adjacent national security missions, it is also a reminder that some of the most consequential cyber work ahead may not happen on traditional government networks. It will happen in the systems that deliver water, support municipalities and keep communities functioning—and protecting them will require a workforce prepared to operate across the boundaries between government and industry.
