American Gas Association
Amanda Sramek is Senior Manager of Security at the American Gas Association.
The energy and utilities industry is a well-known target for bad actors and so is on heightened alert. U.S. security agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, have shared many high alerts covering physical and cyberattack threat levels, causing the energy sector to increase its preparedness.
Among actions for readiness are exercises and drills. Recently the natural gas industry, led by the American Gas Association, realized a gap in physical and cyber exercises needed to be filled. That led to creation of the Natural Gas Exercise 2022, or NGX 2022, where natural gas owners and operators could test their business continuity plans.
Funded by the Department of Homeland Security, the purpose was to stress test the gas industry's ability to respond if a combination cyber-physical incident were to occur. AGA's Amanda Sramek explains how the tabletop exercises took place and lessons learned.
PUF's Steve Mitnick: Talk about the activity the gas industry just completed.
Amanda Sramek: The energy sector as a whole offers a lot of exercises. There is the Department of Energy's Clear Path exercise, which is an all-hazards exercise, DOE's Liberty Eclipse, which is a cyber-focused exercise, and the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or E-ISAC's GridEx, which is a multi-day grid resilience exercise. These are just naming a few.