Protecting Rural Electric Co-ops: Cyber Attacks and Infrastructure Resilience

Energy Threat Analysis Center (ETAC)

• 💡 ETAC serves as a central hub for analyzing threats to America's critical energy infrastructure.
• 🎯 While direct participation is limited (currently 17 companies), information gathered by ETAC is socialized through the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC).
• 📈 This model allows companies with more resources to support ETAC and then share findings with the broader industry for action.

Challenges for Rural Electric Cooperatives

• 🗺️ Rural cooperatives face unique challenges due to vast infrastructure coverage (thousands of square miles) with low customer density.
• ⚠️ This geographic spread presents significant vulnerability and resilience challenges, particularly for cybersecurity.
• 🤝 Congress and federal agencies can support co-ops through programs like the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) program and initiatives like NRCA's Project Guardian, which offer self-assessment tools, tabletop exercises, and information sharing.

Interconnected Systems and Natural Gas

• 🔗 The electric grid is an interconnected system, meaning threats to one sector impact others.
• ⚡ The reliability of natural gas infrastructure (storage, pipelines, compressor stations) is essential for electric power generation.
• 📉 Impacts to customers and operations could be significant if bad actors were to disrupt the delivery of natural gas to power plants.

Collaboration and Support

• 🤝 The E-ISAC plays a crucial role in socializing information and facilitating collective defense.
• 🗣️ Collaboration between electric utilities, natural gas providers, and federal agencies like the EPA and OG SEC is critical for understanding and mitigating threats to all critical infrastructure.
• 🛠️ Investments in programs that enhance coordination and provide self-assessment tools are considered high-impact, low-regret investments for raising the industry's defense bar.