{"671563":{"#nid":"671563","#data":{"type":"news","title":"SEI Initiative Lead Profile: Sam Litchfield","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ESamuel Litchfield, research engineer at the Cybersecurity, Information Protection, and Hardware Evaluation Research (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gtri.gatech.edu\/laboratories\/cybersecurity-information-protection-and-hardware-evaluation-research\u0022\u003ECIPHER\u003C\/a\u003E) lab of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gtri.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGTRI\u003C\/a\u003E), leads the Cybersecurity of Critical Infrastructure Research Initiative at the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.research.gatech.edu\/energy\u0022\u003EStrategic Energy Institute\u003C\/a\u003E. Litchfield serves as the associate director of research initiatives at the Institute for Cybersecurity and Resilient Infrastructure Studies (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/icaris.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EICARIS\u003C\/a\u003E), a joint research collaboration between Georgia Tech and the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory whose mission is to deliver the technologies, test beds, and talent necessary to secure the nation\u2019s critical infrastructure.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ELitchfield received his bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees from Georgia Tech in computer engineering. Focused on cybersecurity since 2012, he has worked in cyber-physical system security, network protocol reverse engineering, and large-scale systems vulnerability assessments. Below is a brief Q\u0026amp;A with Litchfield where he discusses his research focus areas and how it influences the cybersecurity initiatives at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is your field of expertise and at what point in your life did you first become interested in this area?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EMy field of expertise is cybersecurity of critical infrastructure and embedded systems. I started getting into it first in my undergraduate coursework when I learned about overlaps between control theory, computer architecture, and networking. These overlaps create critical infrastructure.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat questions or challenges sparked your current energy research? What are the big issues facing your research area right now?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EA lot of my day-to-day at work is focused on national security. That comes from both being at GTRI and generally looking at cybersecurity questions. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWhen you start applying cybersecurity to critical infrastructure, you very quickly run into national security questions like how to keep the lights on and how to keep water flowing and keep people living their lives \u2014 basically how to prevent devices or pieces from getting compromised and how to keep these systems moving\/working despite people trying to break them. How do we keep the overall infrastructure working in the face of threats even if some elements are compromised? What modifications do we need to make to these sometimes decades-old systems, and what new security primitives can we invent to minimize those modifications? An example is a water system supplying water to your municipality \u2014 it is dependent on unobstructed electricity to keep its pumps moving \u2014 figuring out how to model those cross-system dependencies is an active area of my research topics as well. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat interests you the most leading the research initiative on cybersecurity of critical infrastructure? Why is your initiative important to the development of Georgia Tech\u2019s energy research strategy?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EIn addition to the above questions and figuring out how we approach this sort of research topics, one thing I always find super interesting is coming to a new domain, energy in this case, and figuring out how to use existing domain-specific tools to augment system security, or how those tools might find application in cybersecurity. Aiding PI to PI interactions to get real impacts on systems as a whole and convening researchers whose topic areas don\u2019t traditionally overlap together and identifying projects that can come out of that interaction keeps me going.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EGeorgia Tech is already a leader in power engineering and cybersecurity separately. Bringing those two large pieces of campus together is going to be truly pivotal for Georgia Tech as an institution. There are other domains with leaders in those fields that we can hopefully bring more to the forefront as we combine them with security.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are the broader global and social benefits of the research you and your team conduct on the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThere are two basic benefits \u2014 one from the United States national security perspective \u2014 to keep the infrastructure secure and raise the bar on the effort and cost it takes to compromise systems or use them as a lever in international conflicts. The next one is increasing the security of systems by increasing their resilience for run of the mill things like storms, wildfires, and large climate events. This will become more relevant as climate change increases severe weather events. Another global benefit I could think of is removing energy security from the field of national security levers \u2014 see Germany\u2019s natural gas dependence during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are your plans for engaging a wider Georgia Tech faculty pool with the broader energy community?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ECybersecurity touches on multiple domains and increasing faculty engagement by getting domain experts to talk to security experts is important. Internally, I\u2019m hoping to build an infrastructure security community across schools that\u2019s invested in forming collaborations between areas and subjects that might not traditionally overlap. Externally, I am planning to build a portfolio of events that engages and brings together community members around Georgia, from manufacturers to utility asset owners to external policymakers and regulators.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are your hobbies?\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EPhysically, when I\u0027m not sitting at a desk, I like to go climbing in gyms or hike through the Appalachians when it\u2019s not July in Georgia \u003Cspan\u003E\uf04a\u003C\/span\u003E. Outside of that, I do a lot of recreational programming at home, and I play some tabletop games with friends.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWho has influenced you the most?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EMy graduate advisor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/directory\/raheem-beyah\u0022\u003ERaheem Beyah\u003C\/a\u003E set a good example of how to be passionate about my research, both in terms of technical expertise on how to formulate research questions in a tangible and approachable way and engaging with the people doing the research.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EAnother is one of my current bosses, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/anita-pavadore\u0022\u003EAnita Pavadore\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E,\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E in terms of raising the bar on the quality of what I do, from interacting with others to executing research.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Profile on Sam Litchfield - SEI Initiative Lead: Cybersecurity of Critical Infrastructure"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ESamuel Litchfield, research engineer at the Cybersecurity, Information Protection, and Hardware Evaluation Research (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gtri.gatech.edu\/laboratories\/cybersecurity-information-protection-and-hardware-evaluation-research\u0022\u003ECIPHER\u003C\/a\u003E) lab of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gtri.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGTRI\u003C\/a\u003E), leads the Cybersecurity of Critical Infrastructure Research Initiative at the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.research.gatech.edu\/energy\u0022\u003EStrategic Energy Institute\u003C\/a\u003E. Litchfield serves as the associate director of research initiatives at the Institute for Cybersecurity and Resilient Infrastructure Studies (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/icaris.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EICARIS\u003C\/a\u003E), a joint research collaboration between Georgia Tech and the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory whose mission is to deliver the technologies, test beds, and talent necessary to secure the nation\u2019s critical infrastructure.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"This is a profile on Sam Litchfield, research engineer at the Cybersecurity, Information Protection, and Hardware Evaluation Research (CIPHER) lab of GTRI. Litchfield leads the Cybersecurity of Critical Infrastructure initiative at SEI."}],"uid":"36413","created_gmt":"2023-12-13 19:20:30","changed_gmt":"2023-12-13 19:26:20","author":"pdevarajan3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-12-13T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2023-12-13T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"672574":{"id":"672574","type":"image","title":"SamLitchfield.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EPortrait of Sam Litchfield\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1702495340","gmt_created":"2023-12-13 19:22:20","changed":"1702495340","gmt_changed":"2023-12-13 19:22:20","alt":"Portrait of Sam Litchfield, Research Engineer at GTRI","file":{"fid":"255842","name":"SamLitchfield.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/12\/13\/SamLitchfield.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/12\/13\/SamLitchfield.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":148025,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/12\/13\/SamLitchfield.jpg?itok=rOO3dt7o"}}},"media_ids":["672574"],"groups":[{"id":"367481","name":"SEI Energy"}],"categories":[{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"186858","name":"go-sei"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"145171","name":"Cybersecurity"},{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"},{"id":"39481","name":"National Security"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:priya.devarajan@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EPriya Devarajan\u003C\/a\u003E || Research Communications Program Manager || \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.research.gatech.edu\/energy\u0022\u003ESEI\u003C\/a\u003E || \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.research.gatech.edu\/rbi\u0022\u003ERBI\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["priya.devarajan@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}