Grant / January 2020

Cybersecurity for Urban Infrastructure

The cybersecurity of urban infrastructure systems—including water and transit systems– is crucial, given their fundamental importance for everyday life. Yet there is little research on the cybersecurity of such systems, and what research exists tends not to incorporate social-scientific approaches to understanding human cognition and behavior, and especially perceptions and behaviors related to risk and risk avoidance. This project addresses this gap by assembling a team of social scientists, civil engineers, and computers scientists to develop a research program focused on reducing the risk of security breaches in urban infrastructure systems. The project builds on interdisciplinary discussions of the topic through the Social Science Matrix and Global Metropolitan Studies-funded “Berkeley Infrastructure Initiative.”