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News | Nov. 28, 2025

Strengthening Cyber Resilience by Building Critical Infrastructure Communities: the C-CIC Pilot Study

By Anne M. Chance, Volker Franke, and Timo A. Zwarg

Community resilience is crucial in addressing cyber threats to critical infrastructure, as these threats are often complex and require a multi-layered approach. In this paper, we explore how practices used to build trust and mutual support in face-to-face communities can be adapted to strengthen cyber resilience. Specifically, we apply the idea of community resilience as an effective response to cyber threats by examining the importance of building trust and social capital and discussing lessons learned from a pilot project designed to establish an intentional online cyber critical infrastructure community (C-CIC) in the metro Atlanta area. By analyzing the interplay of technological affordances, social norms, and individual behaviors, this research offers a deeper understanding of how trust shapes the structure and function of resilient cyber community ecosystems. Based on lessons learned from the Atlanta C-CIC pilot, the paper concludes with recommendations for building effective intentional online cyber critical infrastructure communities.

 

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