FERC unanimously approved its biggest cybersecurity overhaul for the grid in years. (FERC)
The background: In recent years, experts have urged that the “low-impact” digital assets supporting the grid receive beefed-up security measures. Strengthening these baseline defenses reduces the rising risk of coordinated cyber attacks, which could exploit the system’s weakest links.
The upgrade: A newly updated standard for low-impact systems includes new efforts to sniff out hackers and updated password protocols for remote users.
Another set of updated FERC standards let utilities securely adopt virtualization tech—this cuts hardware costs while strengthening cyber defenses.