Summary

GAO reviewed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (Commission) new rule on mandatory reliability standards for critical infrastructure protection. GAO found that (1) the final rule approves eight Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability Standards and these eight reliability standards require certain users, owners, and operators of the Bulk-Power System to comply with specific requirements safeguarding critical assets against malicious cyber attacks; and (2) the Commission complied with the applicable requirements in promulgating the rule.