NERC, Cybersecurity, Critical Infrastructure Sectors

Securing America's Energy Infrastructure/Addressing Cyber and Physical Threats to the Grid: U.S. House Energy and Commerce...

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,... on 12/9/2025

The Subcommittee on Energy of the United States House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee held a December 2nd hearing titled: Securing America’s Energy Infrastructure: Addressing Cyber and Physical Threats to...more

FERC Staff Audit Report Identifies CIP Standard Compliance Risks in FY2025

Troutman Pepper Locke on 11/14/2025

On October 20, 2025, FERC Staff issued a report outlining areas of risk to the reliability of the electric grid based on non-public Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Audits of U.S. based North American Electric...more

CISA Proposes Sweeping Cybersecurity Incident Reporting for U.S. Companies

Paul Hastings LLP on 4/2/2024

On March 27, 2024, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (“CISA”) released proposed regulations requiring expansive new cybersecurity incident and ransomware payment reporting across sixteen “critical...more

FERC Staff Issues Report on Lessons Learned from 2023 CIP Audits

Troutman Pepper Locke on 12/29/2023

On December 12, 2023, FERC staff offered information and recommendations to help registered entities (i.e., users, owners, and operators of the bulk electric system) improve their compliance with mandatory Critical...more

Chambers Global Practice Guides: Alternative Energy and Power 2023

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on 8/22/2023

Inflation Reduction Act - Perhaps the most significant recent develop- ment in the area of alternative energy, the Infla- tion Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) offers approxi- mately USD270 billion in tax incentives to help...more

FERC Approves Rate Incentives for Cybersecurity Investments

Morgan Lewis - Power & Pipes on 5/4/2023

FERC has issued its final rule paving the way for incentive-based rate treatment for electric utilities that make certain voluntary cybersecurity investments. As we first noted in 2020 when describing the proposed rule, the...more

FERC Approves New Cybersecurity Standards for Low-Impact Electric Assets

Holland & Knight LLP on 3/21/2023

At its open monthly meeting on March 16, 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a new cybersecurity standard proposed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to address the supply...more

FERC Establishes New Monitoring Requirements for Bulk Electric Systems

Perkins Coie on 3/8/2023

In late January, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) published a final rule directing the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to develop and submit modified reliability standards for internal...more

FERC Directs NERC to Study Bulk Electric System's Internal Cybersecurity Gaps

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP on 2/6/2023

Continuing a recent trend in which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") has been directing the North American Electric Reliability Corporation ("NERC") to improve or maintain the reliability of the nation's...more

FERC Directs NERC to Tighten Bulk Electric System Cybersecurity

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP on 1/26/2023

On January 19, 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the “Commission”) issued a Final Rule directing the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to file for FERC review new or modified...more

FERC Proposes to Close Gap in Bulk Electric System Cybersecurity

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP on 2/3/2022

On January 20, 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) proposed to direct the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to develop for FERC review and approval new or modified Reliability Standards...more

Cybersecurity 2022 – The Year in Preview: Continued Threats to Nation’s Energy Supply as Regulators Race to Keep Up

Foley Hoag LLP - Security, Privacy and the... on 2/2/2022

Continued Threats of Ransomware Attacks - As we reported in our 2021 Year in Preview series, we began 2021 anticipating that ransomware would be a serious threat to critical energy infrastructure. These concerns were...more

FERC Staff Provides “Lessons Learned” from Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability Standard Audits

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP on 11/5/2021

In October 2021, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) staff issued its annual report on “recommendations to help users, owners and operators of the bulk-power system improve their compliance with the [North American...more

TSA's Pipeline of Cybersecurity Requirements

Holland & Knight LLP on 8/13/2021

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on July 20, 2021, reversed two decades of pipeline cybersecurity policies. Having previously advocated for voluntary pipeline cybersecurity standards, the TSA quickly issued...more

FERC and NERC Publish Whitepaper on SolarWinds and Related Supply Chain Compromise

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP on 7/8/2021

On July 6, 2021, the staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC) issued a whitepaper...more

Ransomware, Cyberattacks, and Cybersecurity for Pipelines and LNG Facilities

Perkins Coie on 5/18/2021

Colonial Pipeline shut down 5,500 miles of its East Coast pipeline on May 7, 2021, in an effort to contain a security breach resulting from a ransomware attack. Colonial’s pipeline is one of the nation’s largest and carries...more

Colonial Pipeline Cyberattack Highlights Vulnerability of Nation’s Energy Sector

Foley Hoag LLP - Energy & Climate Counsel on 5/13/2021

This post is a follow up from our recent discussion of the cyberattack that took the 5,500-mile Colonial Pipeline offline last week and the growing threat ransomware poses to our nation’s energy system. On May 10, 2021, a...more

FERC Defers Implementation of Certain Cybersecurity and Operational Reliability Standards

Morgan Lewis - Power & Pipes on 4/21/2020

In an order issued on April 17, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) agreed to defer implementation of certain cybersecurity and operational reliability standards administered by the North American Electric...more

FERC Announces New Initiatives to Bolster Cybersecurity Focus

Morgan Lewis on 11/26/2019

At its open meeting on November 21, FERC announced organizational changes to enhance the agency’s focus on cybersecurity threats and challenges to electric infrastructure. Commission staff unveiled five “focus areas” related...more

How the “Name-and-Shame Game” Highlights the Need of Electric Utilities for Appropriate Cyber Insurance

Pillsbury - Policyholder Pulse blog on 11/8/2019

In late August, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) issued a joint white paper proposing a “name-and-shame” approach to electric utilities that failing to...more

Name-and-Shame Proposal of Electric Regulators Highlights Need for Cyber Insurance

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP on 11/6/2019

FERC and NERC’s joint proposal to name and shame violators of Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability Standards underscores the importance for electric utilities to have insurance coverage for cyberattacks. The staffs...more

Cybersecurity in Project Finance and M&A

McGuireWoods LLP on 10/30/2019

Recent headlines have detailed foreign-state actors targeting utilities and independent power producers in the United States to gain access to critical infrastructure at the nation’s utilities and military installations....more

FERC and NERC Advance Dramatically Expanded Mandatory Cybersecurity Reporting Standards - Medium and High BES Systems Could Face...

Holland & Knight LLP on 6/26/2019

• New Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rule mandates new wide-ranging cybersecurity reporting standards in CIP 008-6. • Mandatory reporting is now required for "cyber security incidents that either compromise, or...more

NERC Suggests Expansion of Utility Supply Chain Controls

Morgan Lewis on 6/12/2019

The supply chain risks facing electric utilities have long been a concern for industry stakeholders and regulators alike. Reflecting those concerns, NERC submitted a report on May 28 to FERC recommending the expansion of...more

FERC and NERC Talk Grid Resilience and Cybersecurity

Foley Hoag LLP - Security, Privacy and the... on 4/3/2019

On March 22, 2019, Foley Hoag hosted the New England Electricity Restructuring Roundtable, organized by Raab Associates. The roundtable featured keynote addresses by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) Commissioner...more

North American Electric Reliability Corporation › Cybersecurity › Critical Infrastructure Sectors

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