Cyberattacks! Should Small Electric Cooperatives Worry?

You’ve likely heard about the latest events unfolding in the Middle East. Perhaps you’ve even seen this bulletin issued by the DHS. You may have even thought “This is scary, but they aren’t going to go after my small corner of the world.” 

Unfortunately, that is not the case!

I recently participated in a GridEx security exercise with a large group of electric cooperatives, during a tabletop discussion, we came to the realization that oil and gas production and transportation relies on distribution electric cooperatives throughout the United States. The backbone of America’s economy, oil & gas pipelines (midstream) and production, rely on running through rural electric cooperatives territory. Even a loosely coordinated attack can cause a disruption that could result in billions to trillions of economic damage not to mention the more immediate impact on transportation such a disruption would have.

The Department of Homeland Security issued a terrorism advisory Saturday noting that “Iran maintains a robust cyber program” and can direct cyberattacks on U.S. targets. Following the news of the attack, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Chris Krebs said on Twitter that it was “time to brush up on Iranian TTPs and pay close attention to your critical systems, particularly ICS. Make sure you’re also watching third party accesses”

SkyHelm, a leader in electric cooperative security, has a 24/7 NOC/SOC monitoring electric cooperatives throughout the region. With their Cooperative Information Security Network (CISN), the SkyHelm team has a baseline for expected cooperative traffic. Any suspicious behavior from expected traffic is immediately flagged and reviewed by the team. If you have any questions about your cooperatives security, please feel free to reach out by phone 1-888-780-8520 or by visiting us at SkyHelm.com