Billington CyberSecurity is launching its first dedicated Critical Infrastructure CyberSecurity Summit on Nov. 17–18, 2026 at Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, bringing together government officials, infrastructure operators, cybersecurity leaders, and industry stakeholders at a moment when attacks on essential systems are becoming both more frequent and more geopolitically charged. The summit is being positioned as a cross-sector collaboration forum focused on the security and resilience of the nation’s lifeline infrastructure sectors, particularly energy, communications, water, and transportation. According to Billington President Troy Schneider, the event is meant to bridge the persistent coordination gaps between public agencies and private infrastructure operators, especially since more than 80% of U.S. critical infrastructure is owned or operated by the private sector.
A major component of the event is the partnership with National Council of ISACs, which joins as the summit’s official Community ISAC partner. That collaboration is intended to deepen operational coordination and information sharing between sectors that increasingly depend on one another through tightly interconnected digital systems. It’s a practical focus, really, because attacks rarely stay isolated anymore. A disruption in telecom infrastructure can ripple into transportation, energy operations, emergency response, and even municipal water systems within hours.
Confirmed participants already include TJ White and Tony Sauerhoff, signaling a strong emphasis on operational defense, state-level coordination, and infrastructure resilience rather than purely theoretical cyber policy discussions.
The backdrop for the summit is the increasingly aggressive targeting of U.S. infrastructure by state-linked threat actors, including Chinese advanced persistent threat groups, Russian adversaries, and Iranian-aligned operators. Organizers point to the growing concern that cyberattacks are no longer limited to data theft or espionage but are increasingly capable of producing real-world physical disruption across interconnected infrastructure sectors.
Billington is also leveraging its existing footprint in federal and state cybersecurity events. Its flagship federal summit has operated for more than 16 years and drew over 175 sponsors in 2025 across defense, IT, transportation, and infrastructure industries. The organization’s state and local cybersecurity summit has also expanded significantly, with representatives from 42 states attending the 2026 edition.
An additional strategic angle is the co-location with the GovRAMP summit, which takes place immediately beforehand on Nov. 16–17 at the same venue. That scheduling creates a broader gathering of state, local, tribal, and territorial government security officials alongside infrastructure operators and federal cyber stakeholders, potentially making San Antonio one of the larger U.S. cybersecurity convenings of the year.
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