USA’s Blockchain Power Plant Security Research Enters Second Level
A blockchain project by the United States government with the aim to bolster power plant security has entered its second phase.
The project which is a partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and Colorado-based security firm Taekion, aims to reduce the ability of cybercriminals to compromise aspects of the energy supply chain.
The effort, which is worth $1 million, utilizes blockchain to shore up security and prevent remote attacks such as those which afflicted Ukraine’s grid in 2016.
Taekion is now researching on how the technology could appear in suitable solutions, which would be deployed at power plants themselves.
The press release goes thus “Accurate information on the status of power plant operations is critical for electric grid security,”
“For example, one method of cyberattack involves compromising a system so that it appears operational when it has actually been shut down by the hackers, leaving millions without power […] The applications being developed in the NETL-managed project have the potential to thwart such attacks by preventing hackers from altering the plant’s operational information.”