Legislators introduce bill to protect energy grid from cyber attacks

A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers introduced legislation on Wednesday to protect critical energy infrastructure from potentially catastrophic cyber attacks.

The Securing Energy Infrastructure Act of 2016 was co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID), Angus King (I-ME), Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Susan Collins (R-ME) – all members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The legislation would examine solutions to defend the electrical grid by replacing key devices like computer-connected operation systems that are vulnerable to cyber attacks with analog and human-operated systems. Backers of the bill say this “retro’ approach has shown promise in defending against cyber-related attacks.

“Protecting our critical energy infrastructure systems is one of the most pressing security challenges facing the United States today,” Risch said. “The continual emergence of threats and vulnerabilities to digital systems has created significant weaknesses that require a large-scale, national effort to address, which is the intent of this legislation. The Idaho National Lab has the unique assets and expertise needed to drive the innovations this legislation aims to create and we are fortunate to have their leadership on this critical issue.”

The bill also establishes a two-year pilot program within the National Laboratories to study covered entities and identify new classes of security vulnerabilities, requires the establishment of a working group to evaluate the technology solutions proposed by the National Laboratories and to develop a national cyber-informed strategy to isolate the energy grid from attacks, and requires the secretary of energy to submit a report to Congress describing the results of the program.