The Energy Department has released a report that assesses the risk of cyber threats to the U.S. power grid.DOE said Wednesday the report “Assessment of Electricity Disruption Incident Response Capabilities†was prepared in accordance with President Donald Trump’s executive order that aims to build up the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure and federal networks.
The report details and classifies gaps in capabilities and assets in seven categories and those include cyber-related situational awareness and incident impact analysis; integration of cybersecurity into state energy assurance planning; electric cyber workforce; data sharing between public and private sectors; and supply chain and trusted partners.
DOE noted that the U.S. is well-prepared to handle disruptions to electricity and its efforts to protect the electric grid from cyber threats fall within planning; incident response; exercises and training; and information sharing.
The analysis also cited factors that may affect the power industry’s capability to respond to power outages caused by cyber incidents, including no-notice events that preclude the electricity subsector from initiating pre-emptive measures and unpredictable system responses.
