National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, American Electric Reliability Corporation to collaborate on cybersecurity

Published on May 31, 2024 by Chris Galford

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Information sharing will be the bedrock of a new agreement signed between the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) and North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC) this week, as the pair move to bolster the electric sector’s cybersecurity.

“Electric sector cybersecurity challenges and threats are increasingly complex and require seamless coordination between industry partners,” Jim Matheson, NRECA CEO, said. “This MOU will facilitate enhanced collaboration between the E-ISAC and NRECA’s TAC, ensuring the reciprocal exchange of critical threat information and analysis.”

The groups’ newly reached memorandum of understanding set up NRECA to provide E-ISAC with de-identified summaries of cyber threats and incident reports from its various member electric co-ops. NRECA consists of nearly 900 local electric cooperatives nationwide. In turn, E-ISAC will share advisories and analyses of threat data.

Together, they hope to strengthen overall security collaboratively, share knowledge and undertaken sweeping joint efforts that make the most of critical intelligence and shore up vulnerabilities.