Cross-Industry Response: Alliance for Critical Infrastructure Expands, Shifts Focus toward Emerging AI Threats
Members from U.S. energy companies are expanding efforts to build greater resilience into America’s physical utility infrastructure against the possibility of cyber threats.
Nearly 50 companies across six sectors have united under an expanded Alliance for Critical Infrastructure (ACI), a national security initiative unifying government and industry leaders to safeguard the infrastructure essential to America’s economic growth. As a cross-sector forum, the ACI aims to establish a unique forum to identify shared vulnerabilities, support critical government efforts and strengthen resilience across interconnected systems.
According to a recent release, the initiative will also work to secure critical supply chains as U.S. officials monitor possible threats stemming from the importation of foreign-made equipment serving critical bulk-power infrastructure needs across the country. ACI members include utility representatives from American Electric Power, Consolidated Edison, Duke Energy, NextEra Energy, Xcel Energy, Southern California Edison and the Southern Company.
As artificial intelligence deployment becomes increasingly embedded across critical infrastructure, the ACI states that this cross-sector collaboration is essential to addressing risks that “no single company or industry can manage alone.”
“The companies that operate critical infrastructure have unique operational expertise and a shared opportunity to help strengthen the systems Americans rely on every day,” said Gordon Smith, ACI Acting CEO, in a statement. “ACI brings those companies together across sectors. We stand ready to support cross-industry efforts with practical experience, technical expertise and a cross-sector perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing critical infrastructure.”
Smith added that the initiative ultimately gives companies a way to engage and learn from one another, sharing key experiences that focus on issues that affect multiple U.S. sectors.
The main areas of focus shared by ACI include:
- Strengthening the physical and cyber defenses of the nation’s critical infrastructure
- Addressing shared vulnerabilities
- Improving cross-sector resilience
- Understanding critical dependencies across sectors
- Helping critical infrastructure operators prepare for emerging risks
“By bringing together operational expertise and a shared commitment to security, ACI creates an important platform to strengthen preparedness, address emerging cyber and physical risks and support the reliable delivery of essential services to customers and communities across the country,” said Southern Company chairman, president and CEO Chris Womack.
ACI noted that this expansion of new members builds on more than a decade of private-sector national security work in collaboration with the U.S. government, advancing the vision of ACI’s nine founding members, which include utilities: Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Consolidated Edison, the Southern Company and Xcel Energy.
Earlier this month, German officials investigated a cyberattack on municipal public utility company Stadtwerke Landsberg KU that compromised and encrypted its corporate and business IT systems. It came as a stark global reminder of the importance of deploying multiple layers of security against attacks on regional infrastructure.
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Eric Moody