It appears the Colonial Pipeline cyber attack is another ransomware attack. Ransomware attacks will continue for a long time – probably forever. “Forever” is endless, so one could propose the statement is reckless. However, for cyber criminals this is a profitable business - for us it is criminal, but for them, just a business. Profitable businesses are an economic driver in nearly every economy and have been around since the concept of an economy. Perhaps not forever, but long enough to believe this cybersecurity has no known endpoint.
Our industries are going through a digital transformation, which leads to increased productivity, which makes most businesses more profitable. We have no choice other than to improve automation, but at the same time, we need to improve our defenses against inevitable attacks.
It is likely you will be attacked and breached. However, you don’t want to pay for the estimated $3.6 million average cost of a data breach recovery effort. Organizational planning, open standards-based products and system defenses that support NERC-CIP compliance, such as provided by EnerTech Capital’s Portfolio Company, IPKeys Power Partners, should be included in your defense portfolio. You want solutions that are targeted at operational network and suppliers that understand and designs their solutions to meet CIP mandates.
We are in this one for the long haul and it won’t be cheap. However, the profits that will ultimately come from increased productivity will more than cover the cost of protecting our businesses.
More about this thought can be found at https://www.sandc.com.br/en/gridtalk/2020/january/23/understanding-the-future-of-distribution-cybersecurity-for-utilities/
Thanks,
D2
