Resilience and cybersecurity are no longer optional – they are mission critical.
Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response
November 26, 2025
minute read time
Cyber personnel from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), utility companies, Federal agencies, and international partners assessed their cyber skills and defense strategies in a hands-on exercise environment titled Liberty Eclipse. Sponsored by DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), this full-scale, cyber-physical exercise used real-world systems to allow cyber professionals to practice mitigating and responding to cyber attacks.
“Securing the grid is absolutely critical to achieving President Trump’s goal of energy dominance,” said CESER’s Director Alex Fitzsimmons. “Exercises like Liberty Eclipse help the energy sector protect critical infrastructure from cyber attacks in a controlled environment.”
This year’s exercise hosted over 250 participants from more than 20 organizations. The event highlights how important it is to not only invest in technologies to bolster grid resilience, but also how important it is to invest in the cyber workforce with professional development and exercises, such as Liberty Eclipse.
A No-Fault Environment Built for Growth
Liberty Eclipse allows participants to experience real indicators and consequences of cyber attacks without risk to real-world operations. Over the course of six exercise scenarios, participants learned how attacks happen, how defenders should respond, and self-assessed cybersecurity measures in place at their utilities. Each scenario also provided industry with the opportunity to mentor others and network while jointly and actively defending and responding to cyber attacks.
Simulated adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures provide an effective training environment for what utilities may encounter in their operational environments.
“This year, we hope utility teams learned how to be better prepared for the challenges of defending critical infrastructure in the real world,” said Brian Marko, the exercise’s director. “This collaboration across industry and government results in a stronger, more informed cyber community – one better prepared to protect the energy systems the nation depends on.”
Partnerships and Broader Impact
Unlike typical tabletop exercises or classroom simulations that focus on scoring points, Liberty Eclipse emphasizes collaboration over competition. Professionals from across operational technology (OT), information technology (IT), operations, cybersecurity, and engineering established operations centers while leveraging remote staff for prioritized tasks.
“This joint training helps us align internal response strategies and ensure cross-functional teamwork when timeliness is paramount,” Marko said. “Such collaboration is critical to building the energy resilience necessary to not only recover from cyber incidents, but to prevent them in the first place.”
“The lessons learned will shape how utilities across the country and globally prepare for evolving threats,” he added.
Want to know more about how DOE and utilities are building a more secure energy future?
Visit CESER’s Exercise and Training Library.