Role-Based Competencies for Cybersecurity within a Biorisk Management Framework

This training is supported by the U.S. Department of State, and as such, is required to adhere to U.S. government foreign assistance requirements as outlined in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. U.S. Department of State support requires that participation in the training be in compliance with U.S. laws, regulations, and policies including the Leahy Law and the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) and Blocked Persons list. To demonstrate excellence as stewards of these funds, the U.S. Department of State is also required to verify partner nationality to ensure compliance with authorities bestowed by the U.S. Congress. The data will be officially categorized according to U.S. Government classification standards to ensure protection of personally identifiable information of our foreign partners.

Introduction

On behalf of the U.S. Department of State Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction’s Biosecurity Engagement Program (BEP), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) subject matter experts (SMEs) will conduct an in-person 3-day workshop in Cape Town, South Africa for up-to 18 stakeholders from public, private, and academic laboratories and industry sectors representing Information Technology (IT) Professionals, Biorisk Managers, Bioethicists, Laboratory Leadership, and Scientists and Nonproliferation Professionals.  The workshop will cover establishing institutional role-based competencies in cybersecurity awareness, training requirements, and educational needs to secure information technology and operational technology.

Participants

Participants are expected from public, private, industry, and academic sectors who hold critical biosecurity and cybersecurity roles. Individuals' management/leadership (involved in fostering/engaging with collaborators/sponsors, and developing facility policies and guidelines), Information Technology (IT) professionals who implement policies, biorisk management advisors or biosafety/bioethics officers who are responsible for the biorisk posture of the organizations, and those with roles in promoting adoption of technology advances for civilian and peaceful uses.

Workshop Objectives

Workshop objectives are to:

• Raise awareness to the topic of cybersecurity and show recent, real world examples of how cyber-bio convergence affects the bio-technology space.
• Discuss cybersecurity frameworks, cybersecurity risk, and risk mitigation measures.
• Define roles & responsibilities as related to cybersecurity.
• Provide participants with current knowledge on cybersecurity best practice that can be mapped to a role-based competency framework and establish institutional role-based competencies in cybersecurity.