Electric Grid Cybersecurity Alliance

On this Memorial Day, let us pause and remember the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could live in peace and freedom. They will never be forgotten.

An activist group successfully attacked Germany's electric grid today, plunging tens of thousands of German citizens and a Tesla Gigafactory into darkness. This was a physical attack that targeted a single pylon with a fire. From the Guardian: "Brandenburg’s interior minister, Michael Stübgen, said ... 'If the initial findings are confirmed, this is a perfidious attack on our electricity infrastructure,' he said, which had caused tens of thousands of people to be 'cut of from basic services and put in danger'." I've been warning utility executives for more than a decade about the threat of activists and hacktivists. Luckily, lots of them have been listening. Many have taken decisive and cost effective action. Utility leaders: get ready to field questions from your large C&I customers like hospitals, factories, retail, and office complexes. Questions like: Is my factory at risk? From who? What intel do you have? What are you doing to protect me? I can already hear the response they will get from some utilities: this can't be prevented. There is nothing you can do. It would cost too much to address this. You can't afford it. There is no technology that can prevent that. That's total BS. If you hear those things from your stakeholders, call me. I can help you make the case. The game has changed. The good guys need to adapt, or -- like this unfortunate region in Germany -- we'll be left in the dark. Great utilities are investing in new technology and new practices for physical and cybersecurity. The solutions exist. The technology is solid. Your people can use it. Let's make this sort of "activism" a thing of the past. (Link to the article in the comments).

Dr. Nicole Cross interviewed EGCA President John Miri live for Spectrum News 1 Texas today to discuss recent reports in the Washington Post that Chinese hackers attempted to access the Texas power grid. We talked about what happened, what the impacts could have been, and most importantly, how we can prevent future hacks from being successful. I'm always happy to talk about the work we are doing at the Electric Grid Cybersecurity Alliance to protect people's lives and livelihoods. I was also honored to speak to the impact that the great people at the FBI, DHS, Texas Military Forces, Texas Public Utility Commission, ERCOT, and so many others are doing. This is a critical threat to the lives and livelihoods of all Americans. But that's not the important thing to know. The important part of the story is this: electric grid cybersecurity is a solvable problem. We can do this. Thanks to Joseph Menn at WaPo for his consistently great reporting on cybersecurity threats.