The U.S. Department of Energy is awarding
up to US$28 million in research and development of next-generation tools
and technologies aimed at improving the cybersecurity of the critical
American energy infrastructure, including the electric grid and oil and
natural gas infrastructure.
“Protecting the Nation’s energy delivery systems from cyber-threats is a
top national priority,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said in a DOE
statement. “These awards will spur the next level of innovation needed to
advance cyber resilience, ensuring that the Nation’s critical energy
infrastructure can withstand potential cyber attacks while also still keeping
the lights on,” Secretary Perry noted.
The funding for the US$28-million awards to R&D projects will be
provided by the Cybersecurity for Energy Delivery Systems (CEDS) Division of
the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER).
The projects that will get funding are expected to create and make
innovative technologies that help prevent, detect, and mitigate cyber
attacks.
“The teams will pursue innovative approaches such as redesigning the
current architecture that exposes the energy grid to cyber threats so that
existing and future energy delivery systems can detect adversarial actions
and adapt to survive while continuing to support critical functions,” the DOE
said. Related:
The 5G Rollout No One Wanted, But Everyone Expected
The DOE Multiyear Plan for Energy Sector Cybersecurity aims
to strengthen the current energy delivery systems and at the same time to
develop ‘game-changing solutions’ that will create inherently secure,
resilient, and self-defending energy systems of the future.
During the worst of the oil price plunge in 2015 and 2016, oil companies
put investments in cybersecurity on the back
burner, striving to adapt to the lower-for-longer oil prices with cost
cuts, while hackers grew increasingly inventive and bolder, according to
security experts.
The projects to strengthen the networks and systems against cyber attacks
did not receive the necessary attention and funding during the lean years,
and as a result, most security teams today are too short staffed and
technology deficient to effectively monitor and prevent cyber attacks, the
experts told the Houston
Chronicle in April this year.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Safehaven.com:
