{"673337":{"#nid":"673337","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Department of Energy Awards $4.2 Million to Guard Power Grid from Cyber Threats","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech is developing a new artificial intelligence (AI) based method to automatically find and stop threats to renewable energy and local generators for energy customers across the nation\u2019s power grid.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe research will concentrate on protecting distributed energy resources (DER), which are most often used on low-voltage portions of the power grid. They can include rooftop solar panels, controllable electric vehicle chargers, and battery storage systems.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe cybersecurity concern is that an attacker could compromise these systems and use them to cause problems across the electrical grid like, overloading components and voltage fluctuations. These issues are a national security risk and could cause massive customer disruptions through blackouts and equipment damage.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cCyber-physical critical infrastructures provide us with core societal functionalities and services such as electricity,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003ESaman Zonouz\u003C\/strong\u003E, Georgia Tech associate professor and lead researcher for the project.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur multi-disciplinary solution, DerGuard, will leverage device-level cybersecurity, system-wide analysis, and AI techniques for automated vulnerability assessment, discovery, and mitigation in power grids with emerging renewable energy resources.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe project\u2019s long-term outcome will be a secure, AI-enabled power grid solution that can search and protect the DER\u2019s on its network from cyberattacks.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFirst, we will identify sets of critical DERs that, if compromised, would allow the attacker to cause the most trouble for the power grid,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EDaniel Molzahn\u003C\/strong\u003E, assistant professor at Georgia Tech.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThese DERs would then be prioritized for analysis and patching any identified cyber problems. Identifying the critical sets of DERs would require information about the DERs themselves- like size or location- and the power grid. This way, the utility company or other aggregator would be in the best position to use this tool.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAdditionally, the team will establish a testbed with industry partners. They will then develop and evaluate technology applications to better understand the behavior between people, devices, and network performance.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlong with Zonouz and Molzahn, Georgia Tech faculty\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EWenke Lee\u003C\/strong\u003E, professor, and John P. Imlay Jr. chair in software, will also lead the team of researchers from across the country.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers are collaborating with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Department of Energy\u2019s National Renewable Energy Lab, the Idaho National Labs, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and Fortiphyd Logic. Industry partners Network Perception, Siemens, and PSE\u0026amp;G will advise the researchers.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe work will be carried out at Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/capcpsec\/\u0022\u003ECyber-Physical Security Lab\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(CPSec) within the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/scp.cc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Cybersecurity and Privacy\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(SCP) and the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(ECE).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/articles\/doe-announces-45-million-protect-americans-cyber-threats-and-improve-cybersecurity\u0022\u003Eannounced\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;a $45 million investment at the end of February for 16 cybersecurity initiatives. The projects will identify new cybersecurity tools and technologies designed to reduce cyber risks for energy infrastructure followed by tech-transfer initiatives. The DOE\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/ceser\/office-cybersecurity-energy-security-and-emergency-response\u0022\u003EOffice of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(CESER) awarded\u0026nbsp;$4.2 million for\u0026nbsp;the Institute\u2019s DerGuard project.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers from the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering are collaborating to secure vulnerable infrastructure from online attacks. The team earned part of a $45 million DOE investment to develop tools and technologies to reduce cyber risks for energy infrastructure.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers from the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering are collaborating to secure vulnerable infrastructure from online attacks."}],"uid":"32045","created_gmt":"2024-03-05 17:38:00","changed_gmt":"2024-05-13 14:35:19","author":"Ben Snedeker","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-03-05T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2024-03-05T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673306":{"id":"673306","type":"image","title":"Saman Zonouz is a Georgia Tech associate professor and lead researcher for the DerGuard project. ","body":null,"created":"1709660104","gmt_created":"2024-03-05 17:35:04","changed":"1709660054","gmt_changed":"2024-03-05 17:34:14","alt":"Saman Zonouz is a Georgia Tech associate professor and lead researcher for the DerGuard project. ","file":{"fid":"256679","name":"Saman-Zonouz.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/05\/Saman-Zonouz.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/05\/Saman-Zonouz.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":56998,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/03\/05\/Saman-Zonouz.jpg?itok=qOSZDIrt"}}},"media_ids":["673306"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"}],"keywords":[{"id":"10199","name":"Daily Digest"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"182941","name":"cc-research; ic-cybersecurity; ic-hcc"},{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"145171","name":"Cybersecurity"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJP Popham, Communications Officer II\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech School of Cybersecurity \u0026amp; Privacy\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003Ejohn.popham@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}