Mark Bristow is the Director of MITRE’s Cyber Infrastructure Protection Innovation Center (CIPIC), where he enhances the resilience of U.S. and allied cyber systems. In this role, he leads efforts to develop technical solutions and strategies to safeguard critical infrastructure from cyber and non-kinetic threats.
With two-decades of experience in cybersecurity, Bristow played a key role in responding to major cyber incidents, such as the Ukrainian power grid attack, breaches of U.S. election infrastructure, and Russian attempts to infiltrate the U.S. power grid. He is passionate about protecting critical infrastructure, understanding its foundational importance to the daily lives of the people it serves.
Before joining MITRE, Bristow served as the Branch Chief for Cyber Defense Coordination at the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), focusing on national cyber defense. In this role, he used his expertise in incident response, industrial control systems, network monitoring, and defense to support national security and resiliency projects in addition to shaping national-level policy. Previously, he was the Director of the Hunt and Incident Response Team and the Incident Response Chief for the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team at CISA and its predecessor, National Protection and Programs Directorate.
Bristow is passionate about mentoring and dedicates significant time to guiding and supporting emerging security experts. He believes mentoring, collaboration, and learning from others are essential to building a stronger, more resilient community of security experts. As a certified SANS instructor, he teaches the ICS515: ICS Visibility, Detection, and Response course, sharing his extensive real-world experience with students. He frequently speaks on industrial control systems security and has guest lectured at prominent institutions such as Georgetown University, George Mason University, and the U.S. Naval Academy.
Outside of work, Bristow is a Visual Flight Rules-certified pilot and enjoys scuba diving.