The renewables industry must develop safeguards to protect against cyber-attacks, according to a new report by the Renewables Consulting Group (RCG) and cybersecurity provider Cylance.
The report, ‘Cybersecurity in Renewable Energy Infrastructure’, says a successful cyber-attack can damage a project’s physical assets through forced maloperation of components, impact finances by disrupting generation, and create energy security risks in the event of a large-scale grid blackout.
Among the report’s recommendations are training staff to recognise cyber threats and introducing new tools, such as artificial intelligence, to maintain cyber security as operating environments become more complex.
RCG’s Sam Park, co-author, said: “If this report offers a pause for thought to all the renewable asset owners, manufacturers and maintainers, and subsequently even a single project strengthens its resistance to the obvious and increasing cyber threat out there, then RCG and Cylance will have done their job.”
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By EBS