Commonwealth Cyber Initiative expands efforts to protect critical infrastructure from cyberattacks

The Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) funded 19 projects for a total of $1.9 million to support critical infrastructure cybersecurity in such crucial industries as transportation, power grids, water, supply chain, manufacturing, Internet of Things, health care, communications networks, and more. 

“The critical infrastructure we rely upon — power, water, manufacturing and other vital systems — is vulnerable to cyberattacks now more than ever before,” said Luiz DaSilva, CCI executive director and the Bradley Professor of Cybersecurity. “Fortunately, Virginia has a powerful cohort of cybersecurity researchers who combine their expertise to tackle these challenges.”

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly shaping cybersecurity, creating both new risks and new tools for defense, DaSilva said. Several of the funded projects use AI to improve anomaly detection, protect critical infrastructure systems, and strengthen overall resilience. 

Each project includes researchers from two or more Virginia universities. Funded universities include Christopher Newport University, George Mason University, Old Dominion University, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia Tech, and William & Mary. 

“These 19 seed grants will lay the groundwork for future centers and larger projects with both national and local impact,” DaSilva said. “This is our biggest program yet. We received more than three times the number of funded proposals, a clear sign of the excitement and momentum among Virginia’s cybersecurity researchers.”

The funded projects are: 

• Agentic AI for Critical Infrastructure: Empowering critical infrastructure with agentic AI to automate asset management and threat triage for cost‑effective cybersecurity, Virginia Tech and Old Dominion University
• AI‑Driven Security for Distributed Power‑Grid: AI-powered simulation and defense strategies to secure distributed power grids against evolving cyber threats, Virginia Tech and Virginia Military Institute
• AI‑Powered Video and Audio Side Channels: Leveraging video and audio side channels to enable smarter, adaptive anomaly detection for critical infrastructure cybersecurity, George Mason University and Virginia Tech
• Autonomous LLM Agents for Microgrid SOC: Agentic AI-powered SOC for microgrids to deliver continuous monitoring and cyber defense, Old Dominion University, Virginia Tech, and William & Mary
• Bastion: AI-driven platform for hardening legacy systems and detecting runtime anomalies without costly re‑engineering, University of Virginia and George Mason University
• Cyber Resilience for Energy Systems: AI-driven malware detection for SCADA systems to strengthen energy sector resilience, William & Mary and Virginia Tech
• Cyber‑Resilient Multi‑Sensor Radiation Monitoring: Enhancing cyber‑resilience of AI-driven radiation monitoring systems at Jefferson Lab, Old Dominion University and Virginia Commonwealth University
• FORTAI: Zero‑Trust Security for Agentic AI infrastructures using AI-driven anomaly detection, University of Virginia and George Mason University
• Intelligent Framework for Securing IoT Systems: Hardware‑aware AI framework for rapid, reliable Internet of Things (IoT) firmware verification to secure critical infrastructure, Old Dominion University and George Mason University
• LLM‑Powered ICS Defense: Smarter intrusion detection for industrial control systems using large language model (LLM) reasoning, Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia
• OpenCIVI: AI-driven, verifiable security for V2I systems with open benchmarks and portable defense stacks, Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University
• Quantum‑AI: Quantum-powered machine learning for detecting cyber‑physical attacks in water networks, Virginia Commonwealth University and Longwood University
• Resilient Neuromorphic‑NextG IoT Framework: Neuromorphic edge intelligence and next generation connectivity for secure, autonomous water infrastructure management, Virginia Tech and George Mason University
• Scalable AI‑driven Cybersecurity for Manufacturing: AI-powered cybersecurity for manufacturers to protect supply chains through proactive detection and adaptive mitigation, George Mason University and Virginia Commonwealth University
• Secure 6G Infrastructure for ISAC: Designing secure physical and data‑layer mechanisms to protect 6G networks with integrated sensing and communication, George Mason University and Virginia Tech
• SecureLFE: Strengthening cybersecurity for LF Energy’s open-source ecosystem with AI‑driven vulnerability management and lifecycle-aware SBOM tools. (Old Dominion University and Christopher Newport University)
• Securing NextG Networks via Context‑Aware Policy Enforcement: Protecting next generation networks with lightweight, context‑aware policy enforcement to stop malicious or compromised xApps, Virginia Tech and William & Mary
• SHIELD: Secure, battery-less, smart hardware for predictive maintenance in critical infrastructure, University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University
• Z‑TRACS: Defending traffic signals against cyber spoofing with zero‑trust and reinforcement learning, William & Mary and the University of Virginia