The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced $10 million in funding for a pair of electric trade associations focused on stopping cyber threats that could be detrimental to the country’s energy grid.
A release by energy.gov says that this agreement is part of the Biden Administration’s 100-day plan focused on securing the energy grid. The funding will allow smaller electric utility companies to use cyber monitoring technology for what is described as “near real-time situational awareness and response capabilities.”
Puesh Kumar, acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the DOE's office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response (CESER), said that the DOE’s partnerships in the electricity complex are vital in providing energy across the country.
“As we continue supporting the 100-day plan and taking action to protect and defend our critical infrastructure, we want to gain greater cyber threat visibility and develop longstanding relationships with the public utilities that power our homes and businesses,” Kumar said.
This is part of Biden’s Electricity Subsector Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Cybersecurity Initiative and involves the American Public Power Association (APPA) and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). The release states that APPA represents more than 2,000 electric utilities and NRECA represents more than 900 rural cooperative electric utilities nationwide. The partnership allows utilities to use cyber monitoring technology for “real-time situational awareness and response capabilities.”
Joy Ditto, APPA President and CEO, said protecting the electric grid is a top priority and she is happy the DOE shares this idea by investing in the needed technology for providing energy to Americans.
Jim Matheson, CEO of NRECA, said that the coordination between industry and government partners in cyber defense is vital.
“Real-time visibility into what’s happening across several different systems is important to strengthen our cybersecurity capabilities and identify attacks in their infancy,” Matheson said. “Electric co-ops are appreciative of this funding that will help support the deployment of advanced technologies to stay ahead of cyber threats.”
The department told the public about the new funding with DOE CESER, tweeting, “@ENERGY has announced $10M in funding to two electric trade associations, the American Public Power Association (@PublicPowerorg) & the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (@NRECANews), to defend against #CyberThreats to the #grid.”
