Ransomware attack on a OT/SCADA network shuts down Gas Compressor Station for 2 days

The department of homeland security has issued an alert about an ransomware attack on the utility sector along with some good advice on how to protect these networks.

Most utilities are governed or have chosen to adopt a "Critical Infrastructure Protection" standard from NERC (North American Electric Reliability Corporation).

In a Utility Dive's 2020 State of the Electric Utility, 62% say they have qualified personnel and updated systems in place, 38% still have issues that need to be addressed.

Most of this has come post 2015, when a Cyber Attack in Ukraine left 250,000 people without power for 1-6 hours on December 23, 2015.

Attacks such as these have been recreational attacks rather than targeted attacks but they can be very disruptive. The recent protests that have shutdown much of Canada's rail shipping services have highlighted how vulnerable essential services are and what impact an outage can have.

Utilities need to be aware of the risks, and what can be done to protect themselves as mitigation and have contingency plans in place for any actions that have an impact.

The landscape for utilities is changing and technical threats are much more of a reality than they have been in the past, proper strategic planning and tactical protection is very important to retain quality of service and prevent lengthy outages or damage.

In the upcoming months, we will have more information from Utility companies on how well they are prepared for Digital Transformation and be able to leverage others experience to plan for high value initiatives that have substantial benefit for customers.