Pacific Northwest National Lab awards $3.9M to NRECA to expand cybersecurity information sharing partnership

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) earned a $3.9 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) this week to expand a pilot cybersecurity partnership dedicated to information sharing.

After beginning last year, the cybersecurity readiness program Essence has advanced joint readiness between the electric sector and the federal government. With this new funding injection, NRECA will work to advance the information and operational technology sensor platform over the next two years to make it capable of detecting industrial control system anomalies and threats precisely and quickly.

“Partnerships like this are vital as we work to keep the electric grid secure and reliable,” Jim Matheson, NRECA CEO, said. “As threats and threat actors evolve, electric cooperatives consistently work to improve their defense capabilities. Collaboration and cooperation are two strengths that co-ops draw on as they work together to implement cybersecurity solutions. America’s electric cooperatives look forward to working with DOE and PNNL in this expanded opportunity, and we look forward to bringing our cooperative approach to this partnership.”

Essence will be the first system to connect to PNNL’s Cybersecurity Risk Information Sharing Program (CRISP), which uses DOE resources to assess and distribute actionable threat information to the energy sector.