The Rise In Power Grid Attacks Leave Businesses With A New Variation On A Familiar Threat

When an attack on an electrical substation in Moore County, North Carolina left thousands in the state without power through the following week, it became a wakeup call throughout the country that our power grid is dangerously vulnerable.

Resilience experts have long recognized the inherent dangers to power grids, primarily a result of the usual suspects – heavy weather and local wildlife. Infrastructure is always in a precarious place and the effects of an outage are the number one disruption to businesses when it goes offline – costing the U.S. economy an estimated $80-188 billion annually.

In the recent past there have been several outages with dire consequences for their regions. 2021’s outage in Texas during a winter storm drew attention to the threat of extreme weather on infrastructure. Other recent examples:

· Houston residents were put on a boil water notice after a power failure at a water purification plant

· Over 14,100 homes and businesses were without electricity after winds knocked out power in Jersey Central Power & Light service areas, and

· A power outage at LAX caused elevators to become stuck, trapping travelers and employees.

But Moore County represented the start of a truly concerning new trend in physical attacks on the power grid by domestic violent extremists, vandals and cyber criminals. According to Politico, physical and cyber assaults on the electrical grid are at the highest level since at least 2012. The Moore County attack is still under investigation by the FBI, and only days later, attacks targeted at least six stations in the Pacific Northwest. These were followed by break-ins on Christmas day where the perpetrators set fire to substations in Tacoma County, Washington, leaving more than 14,000 utility customers without power.

With this threat not only ongoing but actively escalating year after year, the Department of Homeland Security – just days before the Moore County attack – issued a bulletin warning that “lone offenders and small groups motivated by a range of ideological beliefs and/or personal grievances continue to pose a persistent and lethal threat to the Homeland.”

The bulletin also notes that “some domestic violent extremists who have conducted attacks have cited previous attacks and attackers as an inspiration.”

And with proposed increases in the grid to include wind and solar plants, often in remote areas, how to better protect them amidst this surge in attacks remains an open question.

Leadership’s Role During a Crisis

At the leadership level, employers have a duty to their organizations to show that we know this is an endemic threat, rather than a disconnected series of one-off incidents.

On an organizational level, we should be creating and communicating formal in-company policies that address issues of workplace closings, employee notifications, compensation during extended closing periods, and other immediate needs during an outage. C-Suite executives should coordinate with their teams to understand their needs during these times and make sure they’re provided before an event.

Moreover, as leaders not only in the business realm but in the surrounding community, we’re in a position to advocate for energy protection strategies with our local and state officials, regulators and utility companies.

A variety of energy solutions could be implemented, such as leveraging the same kind of military standards used to protect nuclear sites, to securing technology with mandated software upgrades, to development of local microgrids to provide more energy independence during an emergency. These are just a few of the solutions proposed by The C-Suite Network Energy Security Council, an organization made up of members of the public and private sectors, and additional ideas should be explored.

In the meantime, every business should have a plan in place for dealing with a power outage. While every plan will be different depending on the organization’s size, structure, industry, and countless other factors, there are a few things each should have in common.

· Equipment/inventory – What specific threats is your equipment vulnerable to? Knowing how your facility and its devices react to a sudden shutdown is the first step to successful planning to protect it.

· Backup power supply – Generators or alternative energy sources (including solar) should be in place to protect from prolonged interruption – though fuel storage introduces its own risks and responsibilities.

· Vendor relationships – Build strong relationships to ensure timely service and repairs after an outage; you should also know what their backup plans are, to either coordinate or find an alternative service.

· Insurance – It’s recommended to examine and evaluate your coverage with your insurance carrier so you are both up to date on exposures to prolonged power outages.

Forewarned is forearmed – businesses that are fully aware of the vulnerabilities to their regions’ electrical infrastructure will be better prepared to protect against and mitigate the impacts of their potential failure, whether the cause is natural, or something more sinister.