It is not “if” but “when” for a major and nefarious event happens involving Small Unmanned Aircraft (sUAS) like drones. There is a distinct lack of urgency across all levels of government about security, safety and emergency preparedness given the rise of drones and their rapidly maturing capabilities and demonstrated use cases. The question is: are we paying attention? Look at the increasing news reports about how these platforms are disrupting security and safety almost daily. In 2023 alone, there was an uptick in these events. Look no further than the New Hampshire incident during which…

As the Assassination Attempt that happened on July 13th Demonstrated, a Failure of Clarity, Communication and/or Consistency Can Lead to Devastating Consequences. It’s Vital that Your Substation Security Strategy Offers Certainty in All Three Areas. Albert Einstein once said, “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” I often refer to this quote in the training programs I conduct because I believe it holds true for utility security in general, especially when it comes to effective substation security. That’s why my previous articles have focused on the more abstract aspects of subs…

Whether it’s solar, geothermal, wind or hydro, utilities are implementing more renewable energy generation sources than ever before. But with their rapid march toward these green energy sources come some new and distinct security challenges.  To learn about what risks to consider and strategies to implement, I had a conversation with Idaho National Laboratory’s Emma Mary Stewart, an expert in renewable energy and security, and Courtney Samp from Avangrid, a security strategy expert who helped coordinate a strategy for the third-largest renewables operator in the nation.  Along the way…

As threats increase in size, scope and variety for security professionals, it can feel like the thermostat is turned up for all to feel the increased heat that comes with addressing those threats. So, as attendees arrived in the hot summer Miami Beach sun to attend the Homeland Security Conference this July, the local weather perhaps gave them a glimpse into the challenges that lay ahead. The annual conference is hosted by the National Homeland Security Association and it welcomes Homeland Security and emergency management professionals from across the United States. Utility Security Mag…

The small uncrewed aerial system (sUAS) ecosystem can seem overwhelmingly complex, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The wars in the Middle East, Nagorno Karabakh, Ukraine, and now Gaza have proven that we need to pay attention to the threat that drone technology poses to our critical infrastructure. The use cases of this evolution are abound on social media and events in the United States continue to show that it’s not a matter of “if” but “when” an event occurs.  Ukraine is the most prominent example of this evolution as we continue to see that drone technology is moving from battlef…

Curtis Marquardt Jr.: Can you tell our readers more about your background and what you do for SERC Reliability Corporation.? Travis Moran: I began my career in law enforcement, first as an analyst with Interpol. After several years, I joined the U.S. State Department as a special agent, where I served for six-and-a-half years. I then spent 17 years at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives dealing with violent crime, terrorism, bombs and murders. Following my retirement in 2013, I joined Dominion Energy’s corporate security department. This tenure coincided with the…

The most commonly used decision-making process is conjecture-based; we use it countless times daily. We go through life making decisions based on assumptions, speculation and whimsy, with little thought to impact or outcomes. However, when it comes to security, especially substation security, our decisions have consequences. For these decisions, we need a better decision-making method. We need a reliable technique that can produce sound decisions and stand up to intense scrutiny. General Colin Powell once said: “You can’t make good decisions unless you have good information and can separat…

There’s a great quote by Confucius that says: “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” And it’s truly applicable for security professionals because no matter how much one plans, strategizes and fully commits to preventing an incident, along comes something that challenges those efforts in ways that can help an organization grow, evolve and achieve an even better security posture. On Dec. 3, 2022, Duke Energy experienced a “something” in the form of an unprecedented and sophisticated attack on a low-level substation that knocked out power to more tha…

If you search for “Andrew Bochman” on Amazon’s website, the first listing to appear is a book he co-authored about countering cyber sabotage. If you search his name on YouTube, you’ll find videos of him presenting on topics including managing risk and operational technology cybersecurity. Bochman dedicated much of his career to helping with the security and resiliency of utilities. Interview with Andy Bochman But as the years passed, he watched—along with the rest of us—climate event after climate event continuou…

Interview with Dan Stemp and Alex Wakeland As storm restoration work becomes more frequent, so do the challenges of verifying that the workers that flock to the disaster areas are qualified to do the work as well as meet background checks and security verifications they need. We talked with Dan Stemp, the chief customer officer at JNCTN, a New Zealand-based company that is hoping to bring a solution to the U.S. market that will not only empower utilities to verify workers but also give the workers ownership of that …

For many utilities, physical security begins at the door or the parking lot. However, robust facility protection starts at the perimeter. But we often abandon this defense resource to aesthetics, budget restraints, or misplaced values. This makes a secure perimeter the least considered and most often overlooked element of facility security. However, resilient perimeter protection should be your first line of defense, and establishing and maintaining rigid perimeter security should not be discounted or ignored. A robust perimeter security system should be an element of a comprehensive ass…

In November 2023, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) and its Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC) conducted the seventh biennial GridEx. “GridEx is one of the largest and most comprehensive security drawings that are done in any critical infrastructure sector,” said Manny Cancel, senior vice president and CEO of E-ISAC. “It has been going on for more than 14 years, and the purpose of the drill is to really exercise and stress our incident response plans in the face of serious cyber and physical security scenarios.” Interview with Gary Bower GARY BOYER: Absolutely. I’m the Branch Chief for the infrastructure Security Exercise Branch—which is part of the Infrastructure Security Division within CISA. I’ve been in emergency management for about 20 years, the last ten of which I have focused on exercises with the critical infrastructure…

We sat down with Chee-Wooi Ten, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan Technological University. He spends his time researching actuarial science and risk profiling for the power infrastructure industry, linking cyber events with operational risk mitigation. During our discussion, Ten shared his insights about the risks of a cascading cyberattack and the need to train the younger generation on the overlapping knowledge of cybersecurity and power grid operation. Interview with Chee-Wooi Ten …

With more than 400 attendees attending the event in Phoenix on June 24-25, 2024, the Security LeadHER conference, presented by SIA and ASIS International, is a growing event that reveals a trend toward increased leadership diversity in the security industry.  “Of all the security conferences I’ve attended in the last couple of years, this one certainly had an energy like no other,” said Curtis Marquardt, Jr., Editor-in-Chief of Utility Security magazine. “The positivity and excitement was consistent throughout both days and it’s outstanding to see the industry embrace diversity in its le…