CAPE ELIZABETH — Understandably, recent news media coverage of global terrorism has focused on the loud and lethal bombings in Paris, Brussels, Pakistan and Yemen.

There have been far fewer headlines about a quieter but potentially deadly series of developments that may foreshadow the next “big one” in the U.S. – major disruptions, damage or destruction of critical infrastructure such as electric power, water supplies and health facilities.

Recognizing the multiple threats posed by cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, Maine homeland security and emergency management officials have scheduled a timely public conference this month to address the risks and discuss best defensive and response practices.

There have been plenty of warning signs:

• In the wake of the Paris attacks, surveillance video of a Belgian nuclear power executive was found in the home of an Islamic State operative.

• A Belgian nuclear power plant security officer was found murdered, his identification badge missing.

• At least two former Belgian nuclear plant workers are known to have left their jobs to join the Islamic State in Syria.

• The U.S. Justice Department charged seven Iranian hackers with a wave of cyberattacks that froze several major bank operations and remotely accessed a flood control dam 20 miles north of New York City.

• Within the past month, a California hospital computer system was taken over by hackers, and every computer in every Medstar hospital in Washington, D.C., and Maryland was frozen and ransom demanded.

• The FBI charged a Massachusetts man with trying to cut power from Quebec to the Boston area by placing explosives on power lines.

These may seem like disparate, unrelated events, some by terrorists, some not – but they’re connected. Matter of fact, everything’s connected these days, and that’s part of the problem.

Threats in cyberspace and the risks to our critical infrastructure will be major topics when the eighth annual Maine Partners in Emergency Preparedness Conference is held next Tuesday and Wednesday at the Augusta Civic Center. (In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll be a speaker at the conference.)

The session is sponsored by the Maine Emergency Management Agency, the State Emergency Response Commission and the Maine Association of Local Emergency Managers. It’s open to the public, and you can register online.

Usually these events are attended by a few cops, a lot of firefighters, disaster management professionals, emergency medical technicians, a federal presence, National Guard officials and a bunch of vendors. It is a rare opportunity for cross-discipline discussions across the various homeland security sectors – law enforcement, intelligence, the fire service, health providers and other first responders.

Here’s who should also attend: city and town council members, state legislators, journalists, school board members, parents, educators and just plain citizens. The professionals talk among themselves a lot, usually within their own profession and not with their colleagues in the other sectors. We need to expand the homeland security conversation to include a wider group of participants – all of us, really – to learn from the experts, gain an informed perspective on the risks and what we can do to mitigate them.

Not everyone is a computer expert, oversees a cyber network or works on “the grid.” But we all will have to deal with the truly awful consequences if our computer-linked critical infrastructure is knocked out of commission. Imagine your entire town going without electricity for days or weeks on end.

Here are some of the topics of presentations at this year’s conference: cyber security; vulnerability of the electric grid; alerting the public; potential impact of flooding in the Northeast; helping first responders deal with stress; major disaster medical response strategies; Maine’s dam safety program; school-based preparedness programs; rebuilding Maine’s rural infrastructure after a disaster.

There’s an old saying in the emergency management business that you don’t want to be exchanging business cards for the first time at the scene of the next major disaster. The Maine Partners in Emergency Preparedness Conference is a great opportunity for anyone interested in this critical, timely topic to get involved before the sirens scream.

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