Cybersecurity experts urge more government help to protect electric grid during hearing

Energy industry experts called for greater government participation and public/private sector partnerships to help protect the electric grid from the growing number of cyber intrusions, like the one that took down the power system in Ukraine in 2015.

Testifying before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Dr. Duncan Earl, a former Department of Energy (DOE) scientist now president and chief technology officer at Qubitekk Inc., explained an emerging cyber method known as Quantum technology that uses quantum physics to create secret keys that cannot be cracked, preventing communications from being altered or intercepted.

“To speed the adoption of this technology, though, will require government action,” said Earl, who insisted the Chinese are ahead of the United States in this field. “With government support, a nationwide quantum-protected network between substations can be built, creating an impenetrable shield around our grid’s communication channels.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the chairman of the committee, said she called the hearing on examining cyber technology and energy infrastructure to explore how the United States can “harden the grid from constantly evolving cyber intrusions.”

“It seems like every day now we hear about an attempted hack or actual breach that has taken place,” said Murkowski. “Just last Friday, the Department of Homeland Security issued a public alert of an ongoing hacking threat to U.S. energy systems.”

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the ranking member of the committee, called for the Trump administration to restore cuts in DOE’s cyber security budget for next year, estimated at 32 percent below the current fiscal year funding.

Cyber security experts explained what initiatives are being pursued to protect the electric grid from cyber intrusions.

Zachary Tudor, associate laboratory director of National and Homeland Security at DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, described work his lab is doing on a machine-to-machine automated threat response that can reduce the time it takes to discover and recover from a cyber attack. This will enable early detection of abnormal behavior, and then remediate an intrusion before the hack has an impact.

The Idaho Lab, said Tudor, is also working on an early warning sensor, known as WiFIRE, for wireless-based cyber intrusion that can protect radio frequency spectrums such as those assigned for Smart Grid communications networks, electric vehicle wireless charging systems, and vehicle-to-vehicle technologies.

Dr. Richard Raines, director of the Electrical and Electronics Systems Research Division at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), explained the DarkNet project that is aimed at separating the electric grid from the public internet. The project will define requirements for a secure energy delivery control network that is independent of the public internet while using existing but currently unused optical fiber, known as “dark fiber.” ORNL and its partners are investigating ways to take advantage of underutilized fiber optic capacity already on utility systems across the country but not accessible to the internet.

Daniel Riedel, CEO and founder of New Context Services Inc., explained how his firm is working with Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas and Electric, and San Diego Gas and Electric, and the Idaho and Lawrence Livermore National labs, to protect the grid against machine-to-machine threats, which the proliferation of the Internet of Things has made more vulnerable.

Murkowski worried that smaller entities, such as the ones that provide energy in her home state, may not have the resources to adopt some of the protective technologies. Carl Imhoff, head of the Grid Research Program at the DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, said smaller entities will have an opportunity to learn about and adapt some of these emerging technologies by working with their local trade associations. Tudor said many of these technologies will be made available via open source.

Several of the witnesses said some of these technologies may be tested and incorporated in Puerto Rico, which is rebuilding its electric grid following the island-wide destruction by Hurricane Maria.

Sen. Angus King (I-ME) said he worried that the focus of such initiatives appears to be solely defensive with little thought given to deterrence. “Part of the answer has to be a deterrent strategy; a doctrine that has to be known all across the world that if you attack us there are going to be risks,” said King. “If you’re not allowed to punch back you’re going to lose the fight.” Qubitekk’s Earl told him that Quantum technology can also be used offensively to crack codes.