Cross-Sector Information Sharing is Key
Sharla Artz serves as the Vice President of Government Affairs, Policy and Cybersecurity for the Utilities Technology Council, which represents electric, natural gas, and water utilities’ information and communications technology interests. In her role at UTC, Ms. Artz is focused on cybersecurity for industrial control systems and other grid resilience matters. Ms. Artz was formerly the director of Government Affairs at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. (SEL). Ms. Artz also served as the assistant general counsel for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), serving the 50 state utility commissioners on energy regulatory matters pending before the federal government.
For the past nine years, I have been focused on how electric utilities, other critical infrastructure asset owners, and the supply community protect against the ever-evolving, rapidly changing cybersecurity threat. Most of that time has been spent specifically on the electric sector because of the recognition by federal officials, members of Congress, and others that electricity is the most critical of the infrastructures.
The complexity of the policy issues governing cybersecurity never ceases to amaze me, largely due to the fact that this challenge is unlike any that we have faced. At the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Cybersecurity Summit last year, former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker eloquently and succinctly captured the uniqueness of cybersecurity threats: cyber is the only domain in which we ask the private sector to be responsible for national security.
Now, the majority of those that work in the electric industry know full well the importance of grid resilience to the economic security, the safety and the well-being of our populace. It is this aspect of homeland security that requires us to get the answers to the public policy questions we are regularly being asked – because when it comes down to it, our country’s security is at stake. To that end, there are a few things we need to enhance to improve grid resilience.