PNNL

Keeping hydropower facilities safe from cyber threats is an important part of energy security, and that includes what to do in the aftermath of a cyberattack. New resources from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) establish a clear pathway for dam owners and operators in the wake of cybersecurity incidents to help guide response and recovery actions.

Supported by the Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO), researchers from PNNL developed centralized resources that stitch together information and guidance on cybersecurity response and recovery from multiple agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This cohesive set of easy-to-use products is designed to help dam owners and operators; federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies; industry organizations; and commercial entities navigate the handling and mitigation of cyber incidents at hydroelectric facilities.

The resources include the following:

• a short flipbook intended for use at hydroelectric plants to guide operators responding to unusual events
• the WPTO Navigator, a quick reference guide that aligns NIST’s cybersecurity incident-handling processes with FEMA’s emergency action steps for dam safety
• a hyperlinked list of all publicly available hydroelectric plant references for additional guidance
• an overview document that details how these resources were assembled, including the process for gathering and evaluating information and aligning the resources with the current cybersecurity incident-recovery landscape.