A Crane East of England regional seminar hosted by Institute for Analytics and Data Science (IADS), this is a hybrid event.

A Crane East of England regional seminar From Ballot Box to Signal Box: Securing Critical Public Systems hosted by Institute for Analytics and Data Science (IADS), this is a hybrid (in-person and online) event.

Some of the systems society depends on most are also among the most attractive targets for cyber attack. Elections and railways may seem worlds apart, yet both rest on the same foundation: public trust in technology that must work correctly, transparently and without interruption. A compromised voting system can undermine democratic legitimacy, while a successful attack on rail operations can disrupt national mobility and put lives at risk.

This seminar brings together two perspectives on securing these critical public systems. The first talk, by Dr Luke Harrison - University of Suffolk, examines cybersecurity for e-voting, exploring the threats facing electronic and remote voting, from system manipulation to disinformation, and the technical and procedural safeguards needed to ensure integrity, verifiability and voter confidence. The second talk, by Prof. Martin Reed - University of Essex, turns to the rail sector, where increasing digitalisation and connected signalling and control systems are expanding the attack surface of safety-critical infrastructure, and considers how operators can build resilience under evolving regulatory regimes such as NIS2.

Together, the talks highlight common challenges across both domains, including legacy technology, sophisticated threat actors, the tension between security and usability, and the need for security-by-design. The seminar will conclude with an open discussion on lessons that transfer across sectors.

Please let us know when you register if you wish to join us online and a link to the event will be sent to you.

This seminar is supported by CRANE, the EPSRC NetworkPlus for the cyber security research community: www.crane.ac.uk (http://www.crane.ac.uk/)

Description supplied by the event organiser.