Today, the U.S. government views the energy sector as the most significantly threat-targeted commercial industry in the country, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The Government has aggressively increased levels of federal regulatory scrutiny to safeguard our nation’s critical nuclear and electrical infrastructure. Protecting operations from physical, cyber, and insider threats has never been more urgent.
While other industries had been bolstering their cybersecurity for years, it was only in 2009 that the NRC mandated that all U.S. nuclear plants comply with new cybersecurity regulations. Successfully addressing these new regulations, combined with overcoming the challenges of mitigating unforeseen and previously unconsidered vulnerabilities, would be a Herculean task for any company, especially for those unfamiliar with the intricacies of cybersecurity and the digital frontier.