CRITIS 2026

The 21st International Conference on Critical Information Infrastructures Security brought together around 60 academics, researchers, students, and practitioners from the field of Information Infrastructures Security in Larnaca, Cyprus, from September 28 to 30, 2026. Held in person at the Radisson Beach Hotel, the conference provided an opportunity for experts and members of the research and professional community to exchange ideas, present new work, and discuss the challenges shaping the security and resilience of critical information infrastructures.

Hosted by the Open University of Cyprus and the Cyprus Centre for Cybersecurity, Telecommunications & Critical Infrastructure Protection, the conference created a focused environment for discussions around cybersecurity, critical infrastructure protection, cyber resilience, emerging technologies, and the increasingly complex relationship between digital systems and the infrastructures that support modern society.

Taking place in late September, the conference also gave participants the opportunity to experience Larnaca at one of the most pleasant times of the year. With warm days, comfortable evenings, and the Mediterranean coastline providing a distinctive backdrop, the city offered a relaxed setting alongside three days of intensive academic and professional exchange.

Programme

The conference opened with welcoming remarks by Prof. Bernhard M. Hämmerli, CRITIS Steering Committee Chair, and Prof. Stavros Stavrou, Rector of the Open University of Cyprus, Director of CTRL and CRITIS 2026 General Chair, setting the stage for three days of scientific and professional exchange.

The opening keynote was delivered by Marios Pieri, Commissioner of Communications of Cyprus, with the presentation “AI versus AI.” His keynote examined the evolving cybersecurity challenges of the artificial intelligence era, including the ways in which AI is lowering barriers to increasingly capable cyber activity while simultaneously changing the requirements for effective defence, particularly in terms of speed, scale and prioritisation.

The first day of the scientific programme explored themes including Critical Infrastructure Risk & Resilience, Governance, Regulation & Compliance, Human Factors & Cyber Resilience, and AI, SOC & Cyber Threat Intelligence.

A key part of the programme also moved from discussion to practical capability building through the workshop “Building Cyber Capabilities through Cyber Ranges.” Using its in-house developed cyber range environment, CTRL demonstrated how cyber ranges can provide controlled and realistic environments in which organisations can exercise technical and operational capabilities, explore realistic cyber scenarios and strengthen preparedness before a real incident occurs.

The second day opened with a keynote by Abel Archundia, VP OT/CPS Security at Kudelski Security, titled “From Visibility to Resilience in OT: The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.” The keynote explored the challenges organisations face in moving towards operational resilience and presented a maturity-model perspective for strengthening OT and cyber-physical environments.

The scientific sessions continued with topics including ICS/OT & Cyber-Physical Infrastructure Security and Resilient & Emerging Critical Infrastructure Technologies, addressing challenges ranging from IT/OT cyber defence and industrial control systems to resilient positioning, distributed systems, Edge-IoT and intelligent transportation infrastructures.

A major highlight of CRITIS 2026 was the visit to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC). The visit gave participants an opportunity to see the operational dimension of resilience first-hand and to connect conference discussions with the realities of crisis coordination, situational awareness, reliable communications and decision-making under pressure.

The organisers extend their sincere thanks to JRCC Commander George Economou and Kyriakos Olymbios, Head of the Operations Room, for welcoming the CRITIS 2026 community and providing participants with insight into the Centre’s mission, capabilities and operational environment.

The second day concluded with the CRITIS 2026 social programme and conference dinner, hosted by CTRL, providing a further opportunity for participants to continue discussions, strengthen professional relationships and develop collaborations beyond the formal scientific programme.

The third and final day opened with a keynote by Johanna Karvonen of Laurea University of Applied Sciences, focusing on Europe’s submarine cable resilience and the importance of connecting the different technical, organisational and cross-border elements required to protect infrastructures that are inherently interconnected.

The programme then addressed AI-Enabled Cybersecurity & Intelligent Defence, Security Architectures, Assessment & Defence, and the Human & Organisational Dimensions of Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity.

Together, the three-day programme reflected the multidimensional nature of resilience and reinforced the importance of understanding not only technologies and security controls, but also interdependencies, human behaviour, organisational decision-making and cross-sector collaboration.

 

Young CRITIS Awards

An important moment during the closing of CRITIS 2026 was the presentation of the Young CRITIS Awards, recognising outstanding contributions by early-career researchers working in the field of Critical Information Infrastructures Protection.

Congratulations to Ronak Tejas Shah, Maria Simosi and Patrick Grossenbacher for their excellent research contributions and this well-deserved recognition.

The awards reflect the conference community’s continued commitment to supporting emerging researchers, encouraging high-quality scientific work and giving visibility to the scientists and engineers who will help shape the future of critical infrastructure security and resilience.

 

Organisation and Community

CRITIS 2026 was chaired and organised locally by CTRL, under the leadership of Stavros Stavrou, Eliana Stavrou and Adamantini Peratikou.

The Steering Committee Chairs were Bernhard M. Hämmerli, Simin Nadjm-Tehrani, Stefan Pickl, Javier Lopez and Stephen D. Wolthusen, whose continued contribution supports the scientific development and international reach of the CRITIS conference series.

Throughout the event, CRITIS 2026 created opportunities not only for scientific exchange, but also for strengthening collaboration between academia, industry, government and critical infrastructure stakeholders.

The conference welcome reception, social programme and conference dinner further supported this exchange by creating space for participants to continue discussions and build professional relationships in a more informal setting.

 

Acknowledgements

The Conference Chairs expressed their appreciation to all participants, keynote speakers, authors, reviewers, session chairs, committee members, partners and colleagues who contributed to the success of CRITIS 2026.

The organisers also extend their appreciation to Kudelski Security for its support as a sponsor of CRITIS 2026 and for its contribution to the conference community and the recognition of emerging research talent.

The event was also supported by EasyConferences, which provided Online Registration and Conference Coordination Services and supported the administrative and organisational delivery of the conference.

CRITIS 2026 reinforced a central message: critical infrastructure resilience cannot be assumed. It must be built through preparedness, exercised through realistic capabilities and strengthened through collaboration across research, industry and the public sector.