cybersecurity

  CHICAGO & FORT MONTGOMERY, NY – August 25, 2016 – S&C Electric Company, a global provider of equipment and services for electric power systems, and IPERC, an industry leader in cybersecure, intelligent microgrid control systems, today announced a definitive agreement under which S&C would acquire all outstanding common shares of IPERC. Terms of the […]

Reliability and cybersecurity ranked as the two most important issues currently confronting the electric industry, according to surveys completed by 672 qualified utility, municipal, commercial, and community stakeholders for Black & Veatch’s “2016 Strategic Directions: Electric Industry Report.” It’s not particularly surprising to see reliability rank at the top of the list. “Reliability has always […]

The Majority of ICS Components Connected to the Internet Are Located in the United States and Europe WOBURN, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Kaspersky Lab released its report on the Industrial Control Systems (ICS) threat landscape, which revealed that large organizations likely have ICS components connected to the internet that could allow cybercriminals to attack critical infrastructure systems. The […]

The European Union (EU) parliament on July 6 approved the first community-wide rules designed to bolster cybersecurity throughout the EU. According to the official statement, the new law “lays down security and reporting obligations for ‘operators of essential services’ in sectors such as energy, transport, health, banking and drinking water supply. EU member states will […]

EEI Convention keynote speaker Keren Elazari urged electric utilities to partner with “friendly hackers.”

Ensuring the reliability of the power system is the responsibility of many industry participants. In this POWER exclusive, one regional reliability entity, the Midwest Reliability Organization, explains its role. In response to the 2003 Blackout—which affected parts of the U.S. Northeast and Midwest, plus portions of the Canadian province of Ontario—the U.S. Congress mandated adoption […]

Experts testifying during a Senate hearing on critical infrastructure security on May 18 were at odds about how vulnerable the electric grid is to a variety of threats. “The Chinese are already in our power grid. The Russians are already inside our power grid. They may lack the motivation—because of the interrelationship that we have with […]

Operators at RWE’s Gundremmingen plant northwest of Munich moved to shut down the reactor this week after malware was discovered in the plant fuel handling network. The utility said the shutdown was a precaution and the plant was not believed to be in danger. Unlike previous malware attacks on power plants this year, the infection […]

Generating companies wondering if concerns about cybersecurity are overblown got some rude wake-up calls this winter. The first call came when Ukrainian media reported that a December 23 blackout that left

External malicious actors deployed a “synchronized and coordinated” cyberattack to prompt the large-scale blackout in Ukraine last December, a U.S. interagency team has confirmed. The event on December 23, 2015— the world’s first power blackout prompted by a cyberattack—saw a swathe of unscheduled power outages afflict three regional power distribution companies (called the “Oblenergos”) and cut […]