This acceleration is achieved by showcasing and evaluating them in specialized cohorts, tailored to address utilities’ prioritized threats or solution gaps.
In a significant stride towards fortifying the cybersecurity landscape in the clean energy sector, three innovative companies have emerged as trailblazers from the inaugural cohort of Clean Energy Cybersecurity Accelerator™ (CECA).
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), Blue Ridge Networks (BRN), and Xage Security (Xage) stand at the forefront of accelerating cutting-edge cybersecurity technologies into the market.
This acceleration is achieved by showcasing and evaluating them in specialized cohorts, tailored to address utilities’ prioritized threats or solution gaps.
Technical evaluations conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) scrutinized the companies’ technologies, which focused on authentication and authorization solutions for industrial control systems, the primary theme for Cohort 1.
Overseen by NREL and backed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, along with utility industry partners Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Duke Energy, and Xcel Energy, CECA serves as a pivotal collaborative initiative within the clean energy cybersecurity domain.
The pivotal CECA Cohort 1 testing leveraged NREL’s Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) cyber range, an environment capable of virtualizing and emulating energy systems. This allowed utilities to gain invaluable insights into how potential threat scenarios would impact their operations without exposing their own networks, assets, or customer data to risk.
This ground-breaking collaboration between NREL, DOE, and utility partners demonstrated the rapid and effective assessment of security devices’ capabilities in the face of simulated threat scenarios within a utility environment.
The CECA program has garnered recognition from the White House Office of the National Cyber Director, being cited in the National Cybersecurity Strategy as a vital initiative in achieving Strategic Objective 4.4: Secure Our Clean Energy Future. Furthermore, it has been acknowledged in the recently published White House National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan.
Key Takeaways from CECA’s First Cohort:
CECA’s assessments unveiled critical functionality gaps in authentication and authorization solutions. While each company demonstrated prowess in safeguarding against specific threats, none singularly offered comprehensive protection across all threat scenarios. This underscored the imperative for utilities to strategically deploy multiple solutions across diverse layers of their networks.
The inaugural cohort underscored the efficacy of the ARIES cyber range in conducting secure evaluations, enabling utilities to make informed decisions regarding deployment readiness and opportunities for further optimization through continued development.
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) emphasized the need to approach utilities with a measured pace, emphasizing the importance of providing technology solutions that are adaptable and scalable to meet evolving needs.
Blue Ridge Networks (BRN) highlighted the effectiveness of their product, LinkGuard, in concealing networks and reducing exposure, offering utilities an innovative approach to secure control systems.
Xage Security emphasized their identity-based technology, simplifying secure access and interaction policies for industrial control system devices, ultimately raising the standard for operational safety.
The CECA program not only signifies a monumental step towards fortifying cybersecurity in the clean energy sector but also stands as a testament to the power of collaboration between industry leaders and research institutions in addressing critical challenges.