Energy security is national security. Energy powers and fuels our homes and businesses, keeps hospitals running, enables national defense, and helps move the goods and services that keep our economy strong. The energy infrastructure that our nation relies on each day is growing to meet unprecedented demand. So too are the cyber threats and risks from various sources - nation-states, criminals, and other malicious actors and adversaries.
The threats facing the sector are increasing in speed and complexity. To address these increasingly rapid and complex threats, government and industry must find new ways to collaborate and innovate.
A New Operational Model for the Sector
The Energy Threat Analysis Center (ETAC), a program within the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), is a public-private partnership that convenes experts from DOE and the United States (U.S.) energy sector to collectively identify, analyze, and mitigate cyber threats to America’s critical energy infrastructure. The ETAC integrates industry data and context with government intelligence to enable collaboration that disrupts threats to the energy sector.
This unique fusion allows the ETAC to develop and share actionable, timely threat analysis and mitigation strategies that keep pace with modern threats.
The ETAC’s vision is to create a secure, resilient, and adaptive energy sector that effectively counters and addresses threats.
The ETAC’s mission is to deliver actionable analysis and insights that strengthen the collective security and resilience of the U.S. energy sector.
To deliver on its vision and mission, the ETAC has three key goals:
- Craft a wholistic common operating picture of threats to the energy sector through a partnership structure and environment for operational collaboration.
- Deliver timely and actionable analyses, recommendations, and mitigation strategies that address threats to the energy sector.
- Help industry and government prioritize threats and vulnerabilities to inform critical infrastructure protection and national security planning.
Partnership and Collaboration
CESER serves as the Federal government lead for the ETAC in partnership with DOE’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. Five national laboratories - Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, National Laboratory of the Rockies, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory - contribute analytic and technical expertise that enhances the ETAC’s threat analysis capabilities.
ETAC industry partners provide expertise, data, and insights from their systems and networks. They play a critical role in informing threat analysis and intelligence community priorities, helping to shape and strengthen the ETAC insights and recommendations shared with the energy sector.
Energy security is a shared responsibility. By enhancing coordination across levels of government and industry, we can better defend against the evolving threats to our energy systems.
For More Information on ETAC: Contact etac@hq.doe.gov