Utility Conference on Jan. 27 Will Focus on Electric Sector Best Practices Cybersecurity

SAN ANTONIO, Jan. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Cybersecurity experts from an array of organizations will share insights on approaches and practices to better protect the electric grid at a day-long conference that Protect Our Power will convene on Jan. 27 in San Antonio, Texas.

The "Best Practices – Utility Cybersecurity" conference will be held on the eve of DistribuTECH, the leading annual electric power transmission and distribution conference and exhibition event that will attract an estimated 13,000 attendees to San Antonio's Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center from Jan. 28-30.

Protect Our Power is an independent, not-for-profit organization that seeks to build consensus among key stakeholders to launch a comprehensive effort to make the nation's electric grid more resilient and more resistant to all external threats. Protect Our Power is partnering with Environment and Energy Publishing (E&E News) to host the event. E&E News is an online news organization that covers energy and environmental policy, markets and science.

"Protect Our Power looks forward to convening this important Best Practices conference for the second consecutive year as a co-located event with DistribuTECH," said Protect Our Power Executive Director Jim Cunningham. "We also are delighted to partner with E&E News, a tremendous news organization that excels in cybersecurity reporting. It is crucial, given the constant cyberattacks upon our nation's electric grid, that all the key players in grid security intensify their focus on the implementation of best practices to meet these ever-changing threats."

Featured speakers include:

• Shanna Ramirez, Interim VP and CISO, CPS Energy
• Monta Elkins, SANS Instructor, ICS Researcher, author of "Defense Against the Dark Arts"
• Tom Alrich, noted blogger, CIP13 expert, past contributor at Deloitte and Honeywell
• Adam Hahn, Assistant Professor, Washington State University
• Tony Massimini, Senior Industry Analyst, Frost & Sullivan, Information & Network Security
• Brad Whipple, Critical Infrastructure Power System Researcher, Idaho National Lab
• Yehonatan Kfir, Technology Roadmap Expert
• Robin Berthier, University of Illinois Research Scientist; President, Network Perception
• Jake Gentle, Senior Power Systems Engineer, Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, Idaho National Lab
• Jay Johnson, Principal Member of the Technical Staff, Sandia National Labs
• Harry Perper, Chief Engineer, The MITRE Corporation

"Cybersecurity is one of the top challenges facing electric cooperatives," said Curtis Wynn, president and CEO, Roanoke Electric Cooperative and president of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association board of directors. "Protect Our Power's Best Practices conference will provide insights on ways that co-ops and other entities throughout the electric sector can better secure the electric grid."

The registration fee for the event is $175 and includes breakfast, lunch, a post-event reception and great networking opportunities. Attendees of Protect Our Power's Best Practices - Utility Cybersecurity conference will receive a complimentary visitors pass to the DistribuTECH exhibition. Limited availability remains.

For more information on the conference please visit: https://protectourpower.org/bestpractices/bestpracticesconference-2020/

About Protect Our Power:
Protect Our Power (POP) is a not-for-profit organization designed to build a consensus among key stakeholders, decision-makers and public policy influencers to launch a coordinated and adequately funded effort to make the nation's electric grid more resilient and more resistant to all external threats. The national program must also ensure establishment of an enhanced power restoration and recovery component for all grid operations that would include communications protocols to protect the American public. Protect Our Power has a highly-experienced staff and 25-member Advisory Panel representing a broad cross-section of grid-related disciplines. With both 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) status, POP is singularly and uniquely positioned as a non-partisan, unbiased thought leader able to serve as a convening, moderating, action-oriented voice. 

SOURCE Protect Our Power (POP)