Tenable’s Jamie Brown: Public-Private Partnerships Key to Grid Security

Jamie Brown, director of global government affairs at Tenable, wrote in a blog post published Wednesday that public-private partnerships could help improve coordination to ensure the security of the electric grid.

“The federal government can convene stakeholders to set standards that will encourage both the public and private sectors to step up their security practices,” Brown wrote.

“The private sector has a tremendous amount of expertise and tools to share with its federal and state partners. And, encouraging the federal government to make use of the private sector’s resources is a common-sense starting point in the ongoing fight to secure the electric grid,” he added.

He mentioned the Department of Energy’s collaboration with the private sector to strengthen grid security at its national laboratories and how DOE can leverage the projects of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence to help the utility industry improve its cyber posture.

Brown provided information on the Enhancing Grid Security through Public-Private Partnerships Act and cited the role of vulnerability management in grid security.