Cyberspace Solarium Commission issues recommendations to strengthen grid cybersecurity
The Cyberspace Solarium Commission issued a report on how utility commissioners can strengthen the cybersecurity of U.S. critical infrastructure, particularly the electric grid.
The report includes more than 80 recommendations organized into six key pillars.
“Every aspect of society – from critical infrastructure, banking, education, and healthcare – relies on safe, reliable utility services, and communications networks. The layered cyber deterrence approach outlined in the Cyberspace Solarium Commission’s report may serve as a practical roadmap to protect our critical infrastructure,” National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners President Brandon Presley, who is also the head of the Mississippi Public Service Commission, said. “I am pleased that our association is able to work collaboratively with Protect our Power to share this important information with our regulators and the broader utility community.”
The Cyberspace Solarium Commission was established by Congress to develop a strategic approach to defending the United States in cyberspace against cyberattacks
“The battles of the future will be fought on our nation’s energy infrastructure, telecommunication networks, and financial systems,” said Southern Company Chairman, CEO and President Tom Fanning, who briefed NARUC commissioners on the report. “The Cyberspace Solarium Commission was created to reimagine military doctrine for this new digital reality. Fully 87 percent of the critical infrastructure in the U.S. is owned by private industry, making the collaboration between the private sector and government in protecting our American way of life that much more vital.”
Fanning cochairs the Electric Sector Coordinating Council, which serves as the principal liaison between the federal government and the electric power industry.
The six key pillars of the Solarium Commission report include:
• reforming the U.S. government’s structure and organization for cyberspace;
• strengthening norms and non-military tools;
• promoting national resilience;
• reshaping the cyber ecosystem;
• operationalizing cybersecurity collaboration with the private sector; and
• preserving and employing the military instrument of national power.
The report makes clear the critical need for a more resilient grid by calling for actions to protect “critical functions.” It states that Congress should codify the concept of “systemically important critical infrastructure” so that entities responsible for systems that underpin national critical functions are ensured of the full support of the U.S. government.
