By Lenore Vickrey
Like many other businesses in the world, Alabama’s electric cooperatives are no strangers to threats from cybersecurity breaches. But they now have a Cyber Champion at their statewide association, bolstered by a national program that aims to strengthen co-op cybersecurity defenses.
Matty Garr, vice president of statewide services at the Alabama Rural Electric Association (which publishes Alabama Living), is a member of the first class of 12 Cyber Champions launched by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s Project Guardian.
Garr has been having conversations with the IT and OT departments at Alabama’s cooperatives and connecting personnel who can help each other be fully prepared to deal with cyberthreats. “It’s not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when,’” says Garr, referring to the ever-present threat of bad actors eager to breach an electric cooperative’s computer system.
Garr and the other Cyber Champions are able to help local cooperatives in four ways: acting as a trusted local contact for cybersecurity questions; translating complex cyber risks into practical next steps; connecting co-ops to resources, training and a network of other co-ops; and supporting co-ops before, during and after cyber incidents.
“When it comes to something this large and this critical, iron sharpens iron,” Garr told RE Magazine. “It’s better that we all work together and share our lessons learned and approaches to help us get better collectively.”
Alabama’s cooperatives are glad for the help. “The NRECA Cyber Champion program comes at an ideal time, offering much-needed resources and expertise to help rural cooperatives enhance their cybersecurity defenses” says Nathan Fowler, director of information technology for Joe Wheeler EMC.
Clay Howell, manager of information systems at Wiregrass EC, agrees. His co-op is one of several Alabama cooperatives that recently participated in “vibe check” exercises designed to teach humans how to detect AI-driven cyber scams before a breach occurs in their system. “The cyber vibe check helped us take a closer look at our cyber security processes and procedures and identify gaps we might otherwise have overlooked,” says Howell. “It highlighted areas where we can improve and gave our team a clearer understanding of where to focus our efforts to strengthen Wiregrass’s cybersecurity defenses.”
Cyber vibe check “is a critical first step to discover what our cooperatives are doing around cyber defense,” explains Garr. “It allows us to learn more about each cooperative’s best practices and areas that offer opportunities to improve. It additionally identifies areas the cyber champion may be able to assist and share additional resources our cooperatives otherwise might not be aware of.”
Several Alabama cooperatives participated in an online tabletop exercise, “Guardian: Under Siege,” coordinated by NRECA Oct. 15, which was designed to test their specific level of cybersecurity and provide bonus AI materials to create their own cyber drills. “All our co-ops are so diverse,” says Carter Manucy, NRECA senior director of cybersecurity. “With Under Siege, we want to meet co-ops where they are and support their progress along the way.”
Alabama’s co-ops also will have an opportunity to attend a day-long Cyber Operations Update Nov. 18 at AREA’s Montgomery headquarters. They will be able to participate in additional tabletop exercises on backdoors and breaches and learn how to build a robust cyber protection environment from nationally known experts in the field.
“AREA’s newly rebranded Cyber Operations Update (formerly IT Update) is an annual event that allows cyber practitioners to learn, grow and practice critical skills to improve each cooperative’s cyber readiness to prevent, respond and restore from future cyber events,” Garr says.
“The technology we depend on in our daily lives is constantly evolving,” says Joe Wheeler’s Fowler. “Project Guardian’s collaboration with JWEMC enhances our cyber resilience efforts, helping us better address evolving threats in an increasingly technology-dependent world.”
The importance of the new program can’t be overstated. “For us, it comes down to understanding where we stand today and setting tangible goals for improvement,” says Wiregrass’ Howell. “In IT, it’s easy to get caught up in day-to-day responsibilities and lose sight of long-term progress. The Cyber Champion and Project Guardian programs help us step back, benchmark our efforts, and establish clear goals that keep us moving forward. That continuous improvement helps us better protect the cooperative and the members we serve.”
