Opening Keynote: Protecting Critical Infrastructure in an Era of Hybrid Threats#

Laurie Walker, Team Lead, Critical Undersea Infrastructure Coordination Cell - NATO

• Why: Network security at the geopolitical layer: this is the NATO cell specifically stood up after the Baltic Sea cable incidents, and it is shaping the government expectations that will land on network operators as security requirements.
• What: The evolving threat landscape for critical networks (hybrid threats combining cyber, physical, and climate exposure), the Alliance's role in infrastructure protection, and required actions from governments and industry (from abstract only).
• How: Policy/strategy keynote, not technical; expect attribution-free threat framing and resilience doctrine.
• Where applicable: European critical-infrastructure operators, subsea and backbone networks. Adjacent rather than core because it sets requirements rather than techniques — but it is a useful leading indicator of coming mandates.