Portland State Magazine Fall 2021

FALL 2021 // 13 allowing for automatic rerouting of electricity across the grid. Still, its network connections are not without security risks. Today’s grid is sus- ceptible to physical attacks and cyberattacks directed against power plants and other power infrastructure. But with the smart grid, a determined hacker can penetrate a victim’s networks and computers and use them as a jumping-off point to attack others, as demonstrated by recent cyberattacks on firms SolarWinds and Kaseya. In those cases, hackers infiltrated the vendors’ software updates and used them to push out malware to customers.Thousands of businesses and government agencies were caught in the net of the attacks, demon- strating just how vulnerable end-users are to cybersecurity threats by malicious actors intent on disrupting critical systems, conduct- ing espionage, or collecting ransom. Protecting municipal, regional and state governments and other critical users such as public utilities, healthcare providers, and water, police and fire districts from cyber threats to the smart grid will require a holistic approach. “No single entity or institution can address this kind of challenge on its own,” Yeşilada said. “You need to work together from the bottom up.” What does that look like? “It starts with understanding what the risks and challenges are,” said Daim, “And to do that, we have to bring the stakeholders together.” These include colleges and universities in the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii and Colorado; federal agencies such as the Bonneville Power Administration, the Departments of Energy and Defense; as well as private organizations like Palo Alto Networks, Portland General Electric and T-Mobile. Through workshops with consortium partners, Daim and a team of researchers will develop technology roadmaps.These management and planning tools help link the challenges in a technology-oriented sector or business—in this case, the smart grid—to the research, development, policy and education needed to address those challenges. Then, Yeşilada and the Portland State team, in partnership with consortium members across Washington, Idaho and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, will lead vir- tual tabletop exercises integrating real-world equipment to analyze and evaluate current technologies in order to uncover future smart grid solutions. According to Daim, the goal of these exercises is to help stakeholders identify gaps within their organization and develop plans to address them.Those plans might involve investing in new technologies, workforce education and development, and advocating at the state and federal level for cybersecurity laws and policies better aligned with the challenges presented by the smart grid. “This is the start of many years of work,” Daim said. “Cybersecurity is a big challenge. We are under attack and we need to address that.” The new grant provides opportunities for Portland State to step in and meet some of the needs identified by consortium members, be they building communities of stakeholders, developing new technologies, providing pol- icy expertise or educating the next-generation workforce. “Given the threats we face, we have a long way to go,” Yeşilada said. “Hopefully, this project starts us moving in the direction of a whole-of-system approach to addressing the cybersecurity threats posed by smart grid technology.”— SHAUN McGILLIS “A determined hacker can penetrate a victim’s networks and computers and use them as a jumping-off point to attack others.” 6 FT DRIVER SHORTAGES: WORKER SHORTAGES: FEWER MILLS: CLIMATE CHANGE: MORE PROJECTS: SU LY WILDFIRES: PESTS: DEMAND MORE BUILDING: SEEING SCIENCE: Text by Summer Allen | Illustration by Shaw Nielson TIMBER TROUBLES