Tag: Featured

Danger from Above: The Time is Now to Address Drone Risks

Written by William Edwards on October 31, 2024. Posted in Infrastructure Security.

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 a...

Mastering the three “Cs” of Security: Clarity, Communication and Consistency

Written by Jim Willis, CMAS, CHS-V on September 30, 2024. Posted in Infrastructure Security.

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...

Green Protection: Two Perspectives on How to Effectively Plan and Implement a Security Strategy for Renewable Energy Sources

Written by Curtis Marquardt on August 21, 2024. Posted in Editorial.

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, they...

Homeland Security Conference Provides Attendees with New Insights to Threats

Written by Curtis Marquardt on July 30, 2024. Posted in Industry Events.

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 Magazine...

Protecting Water Utilities from Drone Threats: Understanding the Steps of a Drone Security Methodology that Support the J100 framework

Written by William Edwards on July 30, 2024. Posted in Infrastructure Security.

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 battlefield...

Know Your Diamonds from Your Pencils: Talking All Things Physical Security with SERC’s Travis Moran

Written by Curtis Marquardt on June 29, 2024. Posted in Editorial.

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 aftermath...

Critical Decision Making Progress - Substation Security

Substation Security Challenges: The Importance of the Critical Decision Making Process

Written by Jim Willis, CMAS, CHS-V on June 29, 2024. Posted in Editorial.

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 separate...

Forging a Secure Tomorrow: Duke Energy’s Path to a More Resilient Future

Written by Curtis Marquardt on June 29, 2024. Posted in Editorial.

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 than 40,000...

How ‘Global Weirding’ is Creating New Threats for Utility Security Professionals

Written by Curtis Marquardt on June 29, 2024. Posted in Infrastructure Security.

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 continuously wreak havoc on utilities. In bearing witness to those events, Bochman saw a...

The Storm Work Security Conundrum

Written by Curtis Marquardt on June 29, 2024. Posted in Frontline Worker Security.

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 information. Included in the discussion is Alex Wakeland, a journeyman lineman...

Perimeter Control as the First Line of Defense

Written by Jim Willis, CMAS, CHS-V on June 29, 2024. Posted in Facilities Security.

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 asset protection...

GridEx VII Reveals Continuing Challenges of Post-Covid Hybrid Work, Communications and Technology

Written by Curtis Marquardt on June 29, 2024. Posted in Cybersecurity.

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 Manny Cancel GridEx...

Why Your Organization Needs to Conduct Exercises: Understanding the The Bottom-Line Impacts

Written by Curtis Marquardt on June 29, 2024. Posted in C-Suite Perspective.

CURTIS MARQUARDT JR.: Thank you so much for joining us today. Can you please tell our readers more about yourself and your role at the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)? 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 and private sector communities. We conduct and plan exercises that include...

5 QUESTIONS WITH ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING RESEARCHER AND EDUCATOR CHEE-WOOI TEN

Written by Curtis Marquardt on June 29, 2024. Posted in 5 Questions with a Utility Security Professional.

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 Q1: Why should our readers be looking seriously at the risks of cascading outages...

Security LeadHER Event by SIA & ASIS International Provides Informative Career Growth & Personal Growth Insights to Female Leaders in the Security Industry

Written by UBM Staff on June 26, 2024. Posted in Industry Events.

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 leadership...

Key Situational Awareness & Response Strategies Your Frontline Workers Need to Stay Secure

Written by Charles Keeling, CUSP on June 23, 2024. Posted in Frontline Worker Security.

As the world and society become increasingly aggressive and complex, it’s important to know how to spot and respond to dangers in public spaces and act in ways that reduce the likelihood of violence As we see more criminal and aggressive incidents committed against utility workers, it’s important that your frontline workers be equipped with training that helps them act in ways that reduces their risk. Personal attacks on utility employees often happen unexpectedly and are preceded by a variety of customer threats—whether verbal, physical, using animals to intimidate, displaying weapons and...

How to Protect Utility Customers from Scams: A Conversation with Utilities United Against Scams Executive Director Michelle Martinez

Written by Curtis Marquardt on May 30, 2024. Posted in Cybersecurity.

With the rapid advancement of AI and other technologies, utility customers are going to face increasing and more deceptive scam efforts than ever before. This, of course, means that utility organizations will have an increasingly difficult task of educating and informing customers about utility-related scams they may encounter. Utility Security magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Curtis Marquardt Jr., sat down with Monica Martinez, the executive director for Utilities United Against Scams (UUAS). UUAS is a consortium of more than 150 U.S. and Canadian electric, water and natural gas utilities and trade...

Partnering with Law Enforcement to Improve Bomb Threat Prevention and Response: A Conversation with the Office for Bomb Prevention’s Charles Leas

Written by Curtis Marquardt on May 30, 2024. Posted in Facilities Security, Infrastructure Security.

With attacks on utilities growing every year, it is more important that ever to have a sound bomb threat response program in place. A key element to that program is to work together with state and local law enforcement to establish lines of communication about potential threats as well as establishing an effective response plan. Utility Security magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Curtis Marquardt Jr., had a chance to sit down with the Office of Bomb Prevention’s Operation’s Chief, Charles Leas, to talk about how utilities can create or improve their bomb threat program. Curtis Marquardt Jr.: At...

Rethinking Utility Security for Field Workers

Written by Jim Willis, CMAS, CHS-V on April 22, 2024. Posted in Frontline Worker Security.

The names Nathan Baker, Zackary Randalls, Alex Boschert and William Froelich may not be familiar to you, but their stories are tragically important for utility workers. Nathan worked for East Mississippi Electric Power Association in Clarke County, Mississippi. Zackary was employed by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) in Fresno, California. And Alex and William worked for Laclede Gas Co. (LGC) near St. Louis. Except for Alex and William, who were employed by the same company, there is no evidence that these men knew each other or their paths ever crossed, so what thread binds them together?...

11 Key Questions to Ask Before You Plan Your Security Solution

Written by Darin Dillon on April 22, 2024. Posted in C-Suite Perspective.

Can we “Talk Tech”? Leaders are charged with growing profitability, mitigating risks, and improving productivity, but in the utility space reducing threats to infrastructure is also a key deliverable. Although many methods are available to ensure regulatory compliance, the Security Industry Association (SIA) states, “Perimeter security and access control were cited as key components of protecting utilities’ sites, with video surveillance and other technologies playing important supporting roles.” Securing the border, so to speak, is an area where technology can be an indispensable asset. While...

Driven to Protect

Written by Curtis Marquardt on February 29, 2024. Posted in Cybersecurity.

If you were to Google the term “utility security expert,” a name that appears at the top of the list is Brian Harrell—and for good reason. Harrell has the distinguished honor of having served in key security leadership roles in both the public and private sectors. Currently, Harrell oversees physical security, cybersecurity, privacy, intelligence and business continuity units for Avangrid, an energy company with operations across 25 states. Prior to that, Harrell was appointed by the President of the United States in 2018 to serve as the sixth assistant secretary for infrastructure protection...

Threats on the Horizon: The Challenges of Securing the Nation’s Water Utilities and the Strategies to Overcome Them

Written by Curtis Marquardt on February 29, 2024. Posted in Infrastructure Security.

As I sat down to write this article, the town of Flint, Michigan, popped into my head. For anybody who works in the water sector, the mere mention of Flint is likely to spark mental images of a water crisis, national news coverage, footage of angry citizens, and a glimpse into what the fallout from a water crisis looks like. And while Flint’s 2014 water management fiasco was not borne from the impacts of a security breach, it certainly does forecast what could happen should a water utility suffer an attack that impairs its ability to deliver potable drinking water to its communities. To paraphrase...

Are Assumptions Compromising Your Substation Security?

Written by Jim Willis, CMAS, CHS-V on February 29, 2024. Posted in Facilities Security.

How many substation security or protection articles have you started reading, assuming the subject was one thing, only to discover it was something else? The problem stems from the fact that there are multiple definitions for substation security and protection: one digital/data, one electrical and another physical. When utility professionals hear “substation protection,” many immediately think about electrical protection. Circuit breakers, fuses and switchgear come to mind; some visualize coordination study time & current graphs. But as crucial as electrical protection is, it’s only one...

The Emerging Cybersecurity Threats and Solutions of Artificial Intelligence (And Some Resources to Help Ready You for Both)

Written by Curtis Marquardt on February 29, 2024. Posted in Cybersecurity.

As artificial intelligence solutions continue to grow into the pop culture lexicon, many envision this technology as the beginning of a dystopian nightmare that ends with us cowering away from the red glowing eye of an Arnold Schwarzenegger-skinned robot. But while the threats of a doomed Terminator-esque fate loom in the imaginations of some, others are imagining ways this evolving technology will empower utility cybersecurity professionals to improve their security posture in ways that were previously not possible. We sat down with cybersecurity and AI expert James Edgar to learn about the...

Are You Prepared for the Next Attack?

Written by Darin Dillon on February 29, 2024. Posted in C-Suite Perspective.

Do you believe the energy sector has become a critical watchpoint because of its unprecedented constant attacks? You’re not the only one. More than 700 documented attacks from 2010 to 2020, ranging from cyber to physical to natural hazards, serve as real-life reminders that leaders in the utility space must remain focused on how best to protect our most vital assets, including information technology (IT), operational technology (OT) and SCADA systems for process automation. Do you recall the horrific physical attack in 2013 on California’s critical infrastructure that exposed the extreme vulnerability...

5 Questions with Bomb Threat Expert Sean Haglund

Written by Curtis Marquardt on February 29, 2024. Posted in 5 Questions with a Utility Security Professional.

We sat down with Sean Haglund, who serves as the Associate Director for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Office for Bombing Prevention (CISA OBP) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). CISA OBP leads DHS’ efforts to enhance national security by building public and private capabilities to deter, prevent and respond to bombing incidents. During our discussion, he shared some valuable insights and advice on how utilities can be better prepared for bomb threats. Q1: Why should utilities really be thinking more about bomb threats? HAGLUND: We are currently facing a pretty...

Are You Ready for a Drone Attack on Your Infrastructure?

Written by Curtis Marquardt on February 29, 2024. Posted in Infrastructure Security.

In July 2020, someone fitted a DJI drone with two long ropes; both ropes had a long copper wire tied to the end of it. That person then attempted to fly the drone into a substation in Pennsylvania. Through luck or perhaps operator error, the drone never reached the substation, instead crashing onto the roof of an adjacent building. But as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported, this effort was done with the intent to disrupt the grid. Since then, we’ve seen the use of drones in military conflicts overseas ramp up considerably, including an instance where Ukraine sent drones into Russia...

The Safety and Security Paradox

Written by Jim Willis, CMAS, CHS-V on February 29, 2024. Posted in Frontline Worker Security.

In this inaugural issue of Utility Security magazine, I felt the best place to start this column was with a foundational understanding from which we can build later. Let’s begin with a discussion of the paradox between safety and security. Many people see safety and security through the same lens and use the words interchangeably, but that’s a mistake. They’re different in concept and application. The terms themselves are paradoxical; they’re both ambiguous in concept and, at the same time, laser-focused in application. Let’s look closer at safety to see just how ambiguous the two terms are....

From the Battle of Fallujah to Helping Utilities Respond to Active Shooter Incidents

Written by Curtis Marquardt on February 29, 2024. Posted in Facilities Security.

Utility Security Magazine: Tell our readers more about how you got into active shooter response training and what made you passionate about it. Jake Edwards: It really started for me right after 9/11. After that attack happened, I joined the Marine Corps and was deployed to Iraq. I was in the Second Battle of Fallujah, which was a massive and deadly battle and one of the largest urban combat battles in recent U.S. military history. When I was in that battle, facing gunfire, it helped me understand what was needed to survive that sort of conflict. I had to trust and work with new people under...