Cybersecurity Push Coming for Renewable Energy Sector, CESER Official Says

The Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response plans to convene representatives of the renewable energy industry and cloud service providers later in 2024 to define each sector’s cybersecurity responsibilities. 

The cybersecurity requirements from both sides have to be established so that the emerging energy sector will have that built-in security in the future, Puesh Kumar, CESER director, said during a recent event of the news website Semafor. 

CESER’s initiative follows the rising incidence of hacking of critical U.S. infrastructures, including power installations, Federal News Network reported.

Kumar noted that as the energy sector undergoes major advances, such as clean energy technology deployment, cybersecurity needs to be “baked into” the process.

The cloud service providers’ role in the energy sector’s cybersecurity surfaced following the 2023 Chinese cyberattack on Microsoft’s cloud email infrastructure and concerns about the cyber vulnerabilities of the U.S. power grid. 

CESER’s programs to address emerging threats to power facilities include efforts to protect new energy technologies from cyberattacks. The initiatives draw funding from the $27 billion Congressional appropriation for the Energy Department’s electric grid modernization under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.