NYPA and Siemens collaborate on new cybersecurity Center of Excellence

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is partnering with Siemens Energy to develop an industrial cybersecurity Center of Excellence.

The industrial cybersecurity monitoring, research and innovation center, which NYPA officials say is the first of its kind, will focus on detecting and defending against cyberattacks on critical infrastructure owned and operated by NYPA.

“As we digitize every aspect of our generation and transmission operations, we need to be sure that our cybersecurity program is ironclad,” Gil Quiniones, NYPA president and CEO, said. “This venture with Siemens enables both parties to bring their best thinking and experience to the table as we together test and develop state-of-the-art cybersecurity solutions that meet our requirements and protect our assets now and well into the future.”

NYPA’s Advanced Grid Laboratory for Energy (AGILe) and Siemens Energy will identify gaps and establish test bed and demonstration pilots using Siemens’ technologies and processes. NYPA officials say this is the first step in bringing together a coalition of public sector, private industry and academic partnerships that will build core capabilities needed to identify new and existing cyber threats and adopt new technologies to protect digital infrastructure.

A study conducted by the Ponemon Institute and Siemens Energy of global energy industry executives found that 67 percent of respondents believe the risk level to industrial control systems over the past few years has substantially increased because of cyber threats. Also, 61 percent of respondents said their organization’s industrial control systems protection and security was not adequate.

This new Center for Excellence seeks to provide solutions to help secure not only NYPA, but similar utilities.

“Utilities and energy companies often lack the technical means and expertise needed to detect and mitigate cyberthreats in an increasingly digitized and interconnected operating environment,” Leo Simonovich, head of industrial cybersecurity at Siemens Energy, said. “To stay ahead of attackers and fully realize a new energy ecosystem based on digital technologies, we must deploy stronger cybersecurity solutions that are capable of defending critical infrastructure against increasingly sophisticated attacks. This collaboration is a significant and timely step in enabling solutions to protect our future energy system.”