Built-In Resilience: The Future of Cybersecurity in Energy
Team b. Strategy +
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This year’s theme for the Department of Energy’s Cybersecurity and Technology Innovation Conference in Dallas was accelerating and securing the mission through technology. Throughout the week, Team b. Strategy + heard from some of the nation’s top thought leaders on what’s on the horizon for the Energy sector.
Not surprisingly, the CrowdStrike outage that recently brought the world to a standstill was referenced frequently throughout the conference. The global disruption highlighted how precarious our interdependence on technology is across countries and industries, and how quickly it can all come to a halt. Given the rise in geopolitical tensions, the advancement of adoption of emerging technologies, and the increase in energy demand, cybersecurity, and resilience are more important than ever.
"Team b.’s long history supporting cyber, IT, and missions across the Department of Energy has taught us a lot about the intersection of technology, security, and innovation. The partnerships in this space are powerhouses for firms and agencies looking to solve problems. There are too many risks and opportunities to go it alone where security is concerned – industry, government, and academia working together is the only way forward.” --Brittany Westling, CEO
As such, one of the most impactful sessions was a fireside chat with Mike Duffy, Acting Federal Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) with the Office of Management and Budget, and moderator Paul Selby, Deputy CIO and CISO with DOE. The two CISO’s held an informative conversation on where the federal government is headed in terms of prioritizing cybersecurity and resilience across agencies and systems, and—particularly, the energy grid.
Grid security has become paramount as more technologies are added to it and as decentralization occurs. Improving the quality of information we extract from the grid, along with the new controls we put in place, cybersecurity cannot be overlooked. The DOE and utilities throughout the country stress the importance of investing more heavily in cybersecurity initiatives, yet prioritization of funds can be tricky to balance due to rising demand, the maintenance of aging infrastructure, the creation of new infrastructure, and the implementation of modernization technologies.
There is interest in leveraging emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), to help detect threats and streamline response times to cybersecurity incidents. But it’s a bit early for these solutions to become widely adopted, though that’s quickly changing.
Top Three Takeaways
1) Collaboration is key to future success in cybersecurity resilience, which needs to be built-in, not on. To do this, everyone has a part to play, from industry, academia, community, and government.
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2) Events like the DOE Cybersecurity and Technology Innovation Conference are fantastic ways to build on that collaboration, particularly for small businesses as they get the opportunity to meaningfully engage with larger industry partners.
3) The cybersecurity ecosystem needs to balance the adoption of new technologies with reliability to ensure continuous resilience moving forward.
Agencies looking to strengthen their resilience and strategic planning should look to collaborate with informed and vetted partners like Team b. Strategy + to ensure there’s mission alignment with an eye to the future. For more information about our services, please contact info@teambstrategy.com.
Team b. Strategy +
Team b. Strategy + is an award-winning woman-owned small business founded in 2011. We combine strategic planning and creative ideas to help our clients and partners achieve their goals. We specialize in defining objectives, devising strategies, and implementing plans. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our clients and partners to collaboratively solve tough problems and overcome challenges. Team b. is diverse and creative and takes an agile approach to business that places the emphasis on relationships and results specializing in strategy, communication, marketing events, design, training, and government relations.