Electric Co-op Today

Federal agencies will work closely with the electric power industry under a White House initiative intended to enhance security of the grid from cyber attacks.

A new public-private initiative aims at dissipating cyber clouds over the grid. (Photo By: kzenon)

The effort, led by the Department of Energy, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, was unveiled Jan. 5. It is a response to “increasingly sophisticated and dynamic” cyber threats, federal officials said.

According to officials, the Electric Sector Cybersecurity Risk Management Maturity Project will build on existing public and private sector cyber efforts “to create a more comprehensive and consistent approach to protecting the nation’s energy delivery system.”

Establishing such an approach will give utilities and grid operators “another important tool” to improve their ability to respond to cyber risks,  said Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

Officials said the initiative will focus on development of a “maturity model”—a widely used tool that relies on best practices to identify an organization’s strengths and weaknesses. In this case, the model will allow utilities and grid operators to measure their current capabilities and analyze shortcomings in cyber defenses.

Such models are used by other sectors to improve performance, efficiency and quality.

“It is important to understand the sector’s strengths and remaining gaps across the grid to inform investment planning and research and development, and enhance our public-private partnership efforts,” said Howard Schmidt, White House cyber security coordinator.

Federal officials kicked off the new effort by meeting recently with leaders from across the electric sector. Over the next several months, these officials will host a series of workshops with the industry to draft a sector-wide maturity model. The model will be available for use this summer, they indicated.

“While this effort is voluntary for the electric sector, DOE and DHS are treating it with a great deal of urgency,” said Laura Marshall Schepis, NRECA government relations deputy director and counsel, who is taking part in the discussions.

“NRECA’s up-front participation is aimed at assisting the agency staff in focusing the effort,” Schepis noted. “We’re also seeking to identify participation channels for co-op subject matter experts that will benefit both the newly launched process and overall cyber security efforts across the co-op program.”

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Tags: Crime, Cyber Security