The energy industry is one of the world’s top three target sectors for cyber attacks. Not least recent events such as the ransomware strike on the Colonial Pipeline which disrupted fuel supplies to the US Southeast, a data breach at Danish wind turbine maker Vestas, and a cyber attack on the nuclear unit of Brazil’s Eletrobras have reminded us how vulnerable to cyber crime the energy sector still is.
What these incidents highlight again and again is that we need much deeper cybersecurity collaboration in order to advance the world’s energy system to become more sustainable, flexible, and secure. It’s only when we operate in a joint ecosystem where we trust to share cybersecurity information that we can truly build joint resilience. Realtime yet responsible information exchange is the future, especially as the decentralized energy system of our low-carbon world will require exponential growth in new electric and digital connections.
