The Harlow Report-GIS
2023 Edition
ISSN 0742-468X
Since 1978
On-line Since 2000
first published week of: 02/20/2023
Cybersecurity Matters for Utilities: These Resources Can Help
by Bridgette Bourge
"As you encourage your customers to stay cyber safe during Cybersecurity Awareness Month, it is a good time to also assess your utility’s cybersecurity posture and capabilities."
As part of our nation's critical infrastructure, public power utilities have information technology systems as well as operational technology systems on which they and their communities rely. Critical infrastructure must be protected against many different types of threats, both physical and cyber. There are many different types of bad actors threatening utility cybersecurity: “hacktivists,” cybercriminals, cyberterrorists, nation-state actors, and others. Their goals may include sending a message, stealing money or intellectual property, causing panic, and threatening national security. It isn’t always about whether a bad actor is attacking you directly – which, as a critical infrastructure owner, you very well may be an intended target at times – but also about the lowest hanging fruit. Perpetrators of cyber attacks can, and do, conduct automated attacks looking for those who haven’t installed the latest patches, who have open ports on the internet, who are using default passwords on components, or who have poor cyber hygiene and click suspicious or bad links that are scattershot out.
Your customers expect reliable service and strengthening your cyber posture is a crucial step in ensuring the systems you rely upon are available when you and your customers need them. Assessing your cybersecurity posture includes everything from looking at how your IT and OT systems do or don’t interact, how much information you receive from vendors, the confidence you have in all the components coming from your supply chains, and how you train your staff to be cybersecure as they work within these environments.
Resources to Help You
Read full story at American Public Power Association…