Addressing cybersecurity is critical to enhancing the security and reliability of the nation’s electric grid. Ensuring a resilient electric grid is particularly important since it is arguably the most complex and critical infrastructure that other sectors depend upon to deliver essential services. Over the past two decades, the roles of electricity sector stakeholders have shifted: generation, transmission, and delivery functions have been separated into distinct markets; customers have become generators using distributed generation technologies; and vendors have assumed new responsibilities to provide advanced technologies and improve security. These changes have created new responsibilities for all stakeholders in ensuring the continued security and resilience of the electric power grid.
The Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) supports the Administration’s strategic comprehensive approach to cybersecurity for the grid by:
- Facilitating public-private partnerships to accelerate cybersecurity efforts for the grid of the 21st century;
- Funding research and development of advanced technology to create a secure and resilient electricity infrastructure;
- Supporting the development of cybersecurity standards to provide a baseline to protect against known vulnerabilities;
- Facilitating timely sharing of actionable and relevant threat information;
- Advancing risk management strategies to improve decision making; and
- Enhancing and augmenting the cybersecurity workforce within the electric sector.
OE works closely with the Department of Homeland Security, industry, and other government agencies on an ongoing basis to reduce the risk of energy disruptions due to cyber attack.