In 2022, there were increased assaults on the American power grid, and regional electric utility firms are preparing their security systems for any potential dangers.
Politico reported that until August 2022, there had been 101 physical and digital attacks on the infrastructure that distributes power countrywide, the most since 2012. 97 incidents were reported in 2021, which was the full year.
A recent gunshot on two substations in North Carolina, which left 45,000 people without electricity, and a violent attack on four substations in Washington, which left 14,000 people without power on Christmas Day, are not included in this year's data.
According to Ben Dunsmoor, director of communications for Northern Electric, electric utility providers are paying attention to these attacks.
“It’s not just weather anymore. There’s also that threat of those cyber attacks and physical attacks, and we do know that there are those attacks happening across the country and across the world. We are monitoring those and we do have different things in place to try and prevent some of those here in South Dakota,” said Dunsmoor.
According to Dunsmoor, Northern Electric has backup procedures and monitoring systems in place in case of physical assaults.
”A lot of our systems are monitored on a regular basis to ensure that if there’s anything done, we can catch whoever would do that, but also to catch that immediately so that there are limited power interruptions. We also have a lot of redundancy on the grid so that if there is an interruption or some damage is caused, that we can reroute power and get power back up as quickly as possible,” said Dunsmoor.
In addition to keeping an eye on systems for physical assaults, Northern Electric provides its staff with in-depth training to fend off cyberattacks.
Dunsmoor added, ”We do a lot of training, a lot of regular training throughout the year with our employees to make sure that they’re our human firewall to prevent some of these attacks here at home.”
NorthWestern Energy also invests in extensive security. The following statement was given to Dakota News Now by NorthWestern Energy Public Relations Specialist Jo Dee Black:
“The safety of our customers and our employees is our priority, which includes our investments in physical and cyber security. We work with our peer energy providers to continuously monitor and prepare for threats to the grid and other infrastructure.”
Dunsmoor stated the attacks on power have significant consequences.
“The consequences of a cyber attack are huge. Not only could it impact something as far as the power grid or power supply, but also, we’ve got a lot of member data with our billing and those type of things. We take it very seriously and try to protect the cooperative and our members the best way we can,” said Dunsmoor.
