Monica Jackson
Paul Stockton, a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, has written a report that recommends federal agencies to collaborate with power companies to develop “emergency orders” to guard the U.S. electric grid system against cyber adversaries.
APL said Tuesday Stockton explained in his “Resilience for Grid Security Emergencies: Opportunities for Industry-Government Collaboration†report that using the Federal Power Act to create such orders can help utilities coordinate and restore operations when a targeted attack is imminent or already underway.
“We need better plans and capabilities to ‘play defense’ in cyberwarfare,†he noted.
What is missing is operational coordination between government and industry, so that if adversaries strike, federal agencies will be ready to support grid operators through integrated, preplanned emergency orders.”
According to Stockton, the approach can work to sustain and restore power at military bases, regional hospitals and other facilities in the event of a cyber attack, as well as allow U.S. defense installations and supporting civilian infrastructure systems to generate power abroad and counter attacks.
