FIU Receives DOE Funding to Harden Power Grid Against Cyber Threats

Florida International University announced that researchers in its College of Engineering and Computing have received a $2 million award from the Department of Energy to help develop technology to prevent, detect, analyze and mitigate cyberattacks against the United States’ energy systems. The project is the latest among six efforts within the school that are currently being funded by the DOE, FIU said Monday.

In a statement, the university said that the project called “Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Tools for Cyber Hardening of Power Grids” calls for the development of artificial intelligence techniques and analytics that identify attacks in real-time. It also entails the creation of intelligent controllers to enhance the bulk power system’s attack resiliency.

Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm said the funding demonstrates the Biden administration’s commitment to a secure and resilient clean energy future by fortifying American electricity systems and building a stronger grid.

For his part, Mohammad Ashiqur Rahman, the director of FIU’s Analytics for Cyber Defense Lab, said the school’s researchers are experienced in cybersecurity and smart energy grids. He added that his team intends to develop state-of-the-art methods in cyberattack detection to harden America’s power grids.

Rahman said that FIU’s team will introduce multiple elements, each intended to tackle a specific problem. He revealed that the team intends to introduce what is known as the “moving target defense,” a strategy used to confuse cyber attackers. He added that this deception makes it easier to detect and mitigate an attack in real-time.

It was explained that the team will then validate and test the tools in collaboration with utility and industry partners.