Cybersecurity: Confronting Threats & Safeguarding Energy and the Environment

When
September 27, 2019 12:00 pm — 1:30 pm
Where
Boston, MA (and webinar)

An ELI 50th Anniversary Seminar

In an age of digital technologies, the repercussions of a cyberattack expand beyond the digital domain to include environmental and human-safety threats. A cyberattack on an energy grid can result in widespread interruptions to the daily lives of communities. Yet, the energy network of the United States is less like a national grid and more of a patch-work, with each state and utility uniquely equipped, and thus susceptible, to cyberattacks. While advancing the infrastructure and resiliency of states' energy systems can mitigate cyberattacks, numerous environmental impacts can develop as a result of increased electricity generation, storage, and transportation.

How can cybersecurity be prioritized to strengthen energy grid infrastructures and improve local power security? What steps should be taken by states and local utilities to become more in sync with one another when addressing cybersecurity? How can stakeholders ensure environmental protection while advancing the energy grid? Panelists confronted these questions and more as they tackled energy security and environmental safeguarding.Our panelists explored how to protect the environment as energy systems become increasingly advanced, how utilities and corporations can balance the need for new investments into cybersecurity and the costs for customers, and address the inconsistencies between cybersecurity procedures.

Panelists:
Tara C. Clancy, Partner, K&L Gates LLP, Moderator
Michael F. Ahern, P.E., Director, Power Systems, Instructor, Foisie Business School, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Jeffrey J. Meagher, Partner, K&L Gates LLP
Mike Steinmetz, Adjunct Faculty, Wood College of Advancing Studies, Boston College

Materials:
Sorry, due to technical difficulties, there is no recording of this event...