Southern Company’s Fanning helps to lead fight for better cybersecurity

Southern Company President, CEO, and Chairman Tom Fanning is helping to lead the fight against cyberattacks as a member of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission.

The commission was formed by the U.S. Congress to bring the private and public sectors together to improve cybersecurity in the country. The idea is to generate bipartisan, comprehensive discussions of the nation’s cybersecurity landscape and devise real-time strategies and solutions.

“With millions of breaches occurring every day, cybersecurity is one of the world’s biggest threats to critical infrastructure and America’s way of life,” Fanning said.

In a report issued in March, the commission offered more than 75 recommendations for both the government and the private sector to implement to improve the nation’s defenses against cyberattacks.

Fanning’s role — as the sole private citizen on the commission — is to bring a practical, front-line perspective to issues related to cybersecurity and resilience. This includes testing the capabilities of critical infrastructure like power grids, financial markets, and telecommunications networks. Electricity, finance, and telecommunication are considered essential support systems vital to the nation’s economic security and safety.

“In order to improve our cybersecurity, we have to understand what in the United States is systemically important critical infrastructure and then protect that just as well as we can. Eighty-seven percent of that infrastructure is owned by private industry, so we have to really rethink how we organize ourselves. That is a joint obligation of the private sector and the federal government,” Fanning said in a video posted on the company’s web site. “My focus has been not on punks, thugs and criminals, but rather the existential threat, the ability for a nation-state or a very mature actor in this space being able to impair our telecommunications networks, our electricity grid, our financial system – the very core of the American economy.”

Fanning holds leadership positions with the Electric Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC) and the Tri-sector Executive Working Group. He has also served as Southern Company’s chief information officer and is the former chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Fanning works closely with government leaders to advocate for good national energy policy for America that will sustain future generations.

The Southern Company is an Atlanta-based leading energy company that provides energy to 9 million customers through its various subsidiaries.