Utility Industry Innovates to Protect from Cyberattacks

Deck: 

Energy Impact Partners

Fortnightly Magazine - September 2021
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While the threat of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure has always been top of mind for the electric sector, the events and headlines in the first half of this year raised the awareness about our exposure. From the Oldsmar water attack in Florida, the first ever cyberattack aimed at injuring people on American soil, to the ransomware attacks on the Colonial Pipeline, leading to fuel shortages up and down the east coast, cyber threats are materially impacting American lives.

For years, most cybersecurity efforts and initiatives have been focused on enterprise information technology networks. And utilities have kept apace, increasing the security posture of those environments. 

However, it is the operational technology, OT, networks that contain our industrial control systems, ICS, which are vital for operations. Seeing the need for our industry to level-up its OT security posture in 2017, we invested in Dragos, a small startup out of Maryland. Its technology platform provides critical infrastructure customers with unprecedented visibility, insight, and threat detection capabilities across their OT networks. 

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