Power Play: Cybersecurity has become a core issue for the U.S. power system, as important as the supply of raw materials used to generate electricity, a senior official at the grid’s watchdog said, as government officials push to shore up critical infrastructure from hackers.
“Security is at the heart of our operations, and one of the highest priority items right next to changing resource mix,” said John Moura, director of reliability assessment at the North American Electric Reliability Corp., a standards-setting and enforcement body for the energy industry.
The electric grid didn’t suffer any loss of output as a result of cyberattacks in 2020, according to NERC’s State of Reliability report, published Tuesday. Intelligence sharing among companies through the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which NERC operates, grew by 96% in 2020 compared with 2019, with about 2,600 pieces of information shared. Suspicious activity reports, cyber-related reports and information on phishing scams and software vulnerabilities made up the bulk of the data, the report said.
Mr. Moura said cyberattacks had been a particularly serious concern for NERC since hackers last year penetrated SolarWinds Corp. software and proceeded to break into systems at private companies and federal agencies.
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