Program Overview

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Program Overview

The Cybersecurity for Critical Urban Infrastructure program is designed to prepare city officials, agency staff, and a new generation of cybersecurity consultants to understand, help prevent, and manage cyberattacks on vulnerable communities across America.

Program Description

Critical urban infrastructure, including energy, transportation, waste management, emergency service, and communication systems, are being hacked remotely by cyber attackers. These hackers use ransomware to encrypt the data cities need to run, then demand that public agencies pay a ransom to get their own data back. Cyberattacks incur substantial costs, extending to tens of millions of dollars to recreate data that are lost and undermine the reputation of city governments across America.

Program Topics

The program covers the following topics:

• Who are the attackers and what are their methods?
• What are the “defensive social engineering” moves cities can use to protect themselves?
• What are the minimum security standards that all public agencies need to meet?
• Who should have responsibility for overseeing cybersecurity in a public agency?
• Should cities be willing to pay the ransoms demanded by hackers?
• What should a city do after it has been attacked?
• What are the most important lessons drawn by cities that have already been attacked?

Program Format

The program is self-paced and includes:

• Explanatory videos prepared by industry experts
• Case studies of actual attacks
• Role-play simulations and debriefings
• Short assigned readings
• Checklists of various kinds that cybersecurity vulnerability assessors need to ask and answer

What You'll Learn

Through this program, you will learn:

• Questions you need to ask to prepare a vulnerability assessment
• Ways to interact with public agency staff who might feel it is wrong to reveal evidence of a cyberattack
• The rules of confidentiality that apply to studying cybersecurity breaches
• The scale, scope, and impact of cyberattacks that are already happening

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this program. It can accommodate a range of learners, including those with limited knowledge or experience in the field.

Instructors

The program is taught by:

• Lawrence Susskind, Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning
• Jungwoo Chun, Lecturer, Department of Urban Studies & Planning
• Daniel Weitzner, Principal Research Scientist
• Gregory Falco, Security Researcher

Eligibility

Due to U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) restrictions and other U.S. federal regulations, learners residing in certain countries or regions may not be able to register for this course. These include Iran, Cuba, Syria, North Korea, and the Crimea, Donetsk People's Republic, and Luhansk People's Republic regions of Ukraine.

Program Details

• Duration: 4 weeks
• Time Commitment: 3-5 hours per week
• Price: Free to learn, with a certificate track available for $139.00
• Payment Deadline: May 31, 2026
• Start Date: Anytime
• End Date: June 10, 2026

Instructor Profiles

Lawrence Susskind

Lawrence Susskind is Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning at MIT, where he has been a member of the teaching and research faculty for almost fifty years. He is head of MIT’s Science Impact Collaborative and teaches a variety of negotiation courses.

Jungwoo Chun

Jungwoo Chun is a Lecturer in the Department of Urban Studies & Planning at MIT. He has previously directed the MIT Cybersecurity Clinic and led the client recruitment process and oversaw student team engagement with client communities seeking to combat growing cybersecurity threats.

Daniel Weitzner

Daniel J. Weitzner is Founding Director of the MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative and Principal Research Scientist at CSAIL. He was United States Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Internet Policy in the White House.

Gregory Falco

Dr. Gregory Falco is a security researcher at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). His assured autonomy research for smart cities and space assets with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory spans IoT, AI, and distributed systems.