The Lexington Institute hosted a Cybersecurity of the Electric Grid Capitol Hill Forum on Friday, June 8th at 12pm. Click on the links below to view the speech given by each speaker.
Speakers:
Mr. Bryson Bort, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, SCYTHE
Mr. Cade Burks, Chief Digital Officer, Big Data Energy
Mr. Cameron Camp, Security Researcher, ESET
Mr. Bob Gray, Chief Scientist, BAE Systems Inc.
Mr. Casey Kahsen, Information Technology Specialist, Department of Homeland Security
Mr. Stewart Kantor, Chief Executive Officer, Full Spectrum
Mr. Bill Lawrence, Director, Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center
Dr. Ronnie Mainieri, Co-founder, PermissionBit
Mr. Jim McCarthy, Senior Security Engineer, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Representative Jerry McNerney, Member, House Committee on Energy and Commerce
Mr. Richard Mroz, Former President, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
Mr. Mark Orlando, Chief Technology Officer, Raytheon
Mr. Bob Pickett, Commissioner, Regulatory Commission of Alaska
Mr. Daniel Riedel, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, New Context
Ms. Jennifer K. Silk, Senior Advisor for Cybersecurity, Department of Energy
If a mass power outage were to result from a cyberattack on the electric grid, national security and economic stability would be threatened. This is because hospitals, banks, factories, pipelines, financial networks, water systems, telecommunications and military bases cannot function without electricity.
Ukraine is an example of a country that had to shut down its grid twice due to a cyberattack. Just last year, a virus called Industroyer, also known as “Crash Override,” was discovered that aims to damage equipment on the electric grid by turning off power, creating rolling blackouts or causing physical destruction. This virus is one example of a potential threat to all substations and circuit breakers which are largely standardized across the world.
Operators of the grid need tools to detect and correct malicious threats in networks before they cause serious damage to the electric system and critical infrastructure. Policymakers and industry need to collectively implement effective strategies so that citizens do not have to worry about cyber threats compromising electricity access.
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