Renewable energy technologies have established a significant role in the energy industry. Because of their prominence and growing importance to power supplies, it is vital for the industry to develop appropriate security, and specifically cybersecurity, strategies. A new report from energy sector experts, The Renewables Consulting Group (“RCG”), and cybersecurity specialists, Cylance Inc. (“Cylance”), provides insight into cybersecurity for the renewable energy industry, focusing on threat and impact assessment, and on measures to improve cyber protection.
Cyber-attacks targeting critical infrastructure have increased over recent years. Cybersecurity threats include ransomware, fileless attacks, advanced persistent threats (APTs) and Trojans. The security of a renewable energy asset can be broken down into two main components; physical security and cybersecurity. A successful cyber-attack has the potential, not just to cause the loss of personal and commercial information, or cause damage to electronic resources, but also to damage a project’s physical assets through the forced maloperation of components, impact its finances by disrupting generation, or create national, or regional, energy security risks in the event of a large-scale grid blackouts.
