Electric Grid Cybersecurity: 2026 OT Threat Insights

For electric environments where patching is often constrained by operational requirements, these timelines compress the window for defensive action. Of the vulnerabilities disclosed in 2025, approximately 4 percent of ICS vulnerabilities were actively exploited at the time of disclosure. In 2025, Dragos observed a median time of just 24 days between vulnerability disclosure and public exploit availability. Without a clear understanding of what assets exist, how they communicate, and what normal operations look like, it becomes extremely difficult to identify when adversaries are interacting with systems that influence grid operations. Across environments analyzed in 2025, Dragos consistently observes that lack of OT asset visibility remains one of the most significant drivers of cyber risk.

As the grid evolves, robust OT/ICS cybersecurity, network monitoring, and managed security services are required to protect new technologies and data-driven operations. Noedra is Siemens Energy’s digital framework—the Mind of the Grid—that connects intelligent solutions (from sensing and controlling to software and advisory) into one ecosystem. Implement robust safeguards and controls to secure critical systems, data, and operations from evolving cyber threats Legacy tools, siloed security solutions, and IT-centric approaches are no longer sufficient for critical infrastructure. Enable secure, data-driven operations and optimize digital substation performance. Connected with the other Noedra suites, Noedra Shield eliminates security blind spots—unifying visibility, protection, and control across all operational layers of the grid.

Sustained investment in security expertise, technology, and risk mitigation is essential to protect the electric grid and other vital infrastructure from increasingly sophisticated threats. Volt Typhoon maintained unauthorized access to LELWD’s operational technology (OT) network for nearly a year, from February to November 2024. A 2024 Thales report found that 42% of critical infrastructure companies – including energy providers – suffered data breaches during the year.

• In collaboration with industry, PNNL is creating systems with built-in resiliency and cybersecurity controls that enable energy delivery systems to keep working regardless of threats.
• These are the controls most directly tied to how grid environments are actually accessed, monitored, and operated.
• Quickly and easily find the right products and accessories for your applications.
• Find out more about our work on electricity grid cybersecurity by checking out our recent reports linked above.
• Partnering with Siemens Energy means more than just choosing a technology provider—its value goes far beyond technology.

How Vulnerable Is the Power Grid?

In 2025, the threat to electric infrastructure moved beyond access and persistence into deliberate, active preparation for operational impact. In parallel, the grid itself is changing and expanding into distributed, software-driven, and remotely accessible systems that were not part of traditional security models. Instead,they areobservedincreasinglytargeting the systems that operators rely on to see, understand, and manage the grid.

Secure Communications Networks

• At the same time, the continued expansion of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and distributed grid technologies introduces additional systems where vulnerabilities can directly affect how energy is stored, dispatched, and balanced.
• The American Society of Civil Engineers rates U.S. energy infrastructure at D+, with 70% of power transformers and transmission lines over 25 years old.
• Cyberattacks on utilities increased 70% in 2024, averaging over 1,300 weekly incidents by Q3 according to Check Point Research.
• The findings of this year’s report reinforce that the SANS Five ICS Critical Controls remain the most practical way to reduce real operational risk.
• Utilities are increasingly integrating Distributed Energy Resources (DER) management systems, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), cloud-based grid platforms, and industrial IoT and smart grid technologies.

Cybersecure products, solutions, and services are key to protecting your revenue and reputation. GAO’s mission is to provide Congress with fact-based, nonpartisan information that can help improve federal government performance and ensure accountability for the benefit of the American people. As the lead federal agency for the energy sector, DOE has developed plans to implement a national cybersecurity strategy for protecting the grid.

The result is that the grid is more capable, but also more exposed and less consistently visible unless electric operators extend the boundaries that have historically defined operational environments. But they also introduce new control interfaces, new access pathways, and new dependencies on external systems. It was the first major coordinated attack against Distributed Energy Resources (DER) anywhere in the world, and the activity https://miamicottages.com/top-construction-companies-in-florida.html confirmed deliberate attempts to directly impact operational assets rather than remaining confined to enterprise reconnaissance. Dragos has acquired NetRise and runZero, building the industry’s first end-to-end xOT cybersecurity platform. Increasingly distributed networked grid assets present a broader attack surface for adversaries to exploit. PNNL also operates an Energy Communications Cyber Test Range, a software-defined radio test range with a two-mile-plus radio frequency range and more than six miles of optical fiber.

PNNL’s Rebecca O’Neil Testifies Before Congress on Energy Infrastructure Security

Posts will tie GAO work to current events and the news; show how GAO’s work https://goodmanner.info/2019/07/11/why-resources-arent-as-bad-as-you-think/ is affecting agencies or legislation; highlight reports, testimonies, and issue areas where GAO does work; and provide information about GAO itself, among other things. Find out more about our work on electricity grid cybersecurity by checking out our recent reports linked above. After identifying this vulnerability, we recommended the Department of Energy (DOE)—in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, state, and industry partners—address risks to the distribution systems. But it hasn’t taken steps to ensure that those standards fully address leading federal guidance for critical infrastructure cybersecurity. For National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (October), today’s WatchBlog post looks at two of our recent reports on cybersecurity risks to the U.S. electric grid and federal efforts to address them.

It integrates real-world equipment with simulation capabilities to dynamically configure many experimental and testing setups. The Power Networking, Equipment, and Technology Testbed (powerNET) is a remotely accessible, multi-user, experimental testbed to support power system and smart grid research. Cybersecurity testbed facilities at PNNL are important resources for developing new methods and technologies. By quickly identifying trends and relationships that may reveal a potential threat, grid operators and automated protection systems can rapidly take action to protect the grid. PNNL is combining high-performance computing and machine-learning techniques to spot trouble in this sea of data. The growing number of intelligent devices on the grid generate vast data streams.

• But the electricity grid is an attractive target for cyberattacks from U.S. adversaries—such as nations like China and Russia, as well as individual bad actors, such as insiders and criminals.
• Effective grid cybersecurity ensures operational continuity and compliance with industry standards.
• As our grid becomes more digital, protecting data where it is created and used is more important than ever.
• By unifying visibility, protection, and response, Noedra Shield suite eliminates blind spots and keeps grid operations secure.
• A compromised grid endangers customer trust and decreases system reliability.

Comprehensive protection, clear visibility, and resilient operations for your grid

This is why visibility into OT context, not just IT access, is required to identify when adversaries are operating inside grid-supporting systems. These are active campaigns by adversaries who have caused electric outages before or are demonstrably building the access and operational intelligence to do so again. In a confirmed incident response, Dragos observed SYLVANITE, a Stage 1 access group that hands footholds directly to ICS-capable adversaries like VOLTZITE, operating inside a U.S. electric utility network. ELECTRUM, the most operationally experienced infrastructure threat group Dragos tracks, responsible for the 2015 and 2016 Ukrainian power outages, expanded its targeting to Polish energy infrastructure in late December 2025. New tools and testbeds that help utilities plan, build, and manage modern communication networks. This program focuses on protecting the flow of data across the electric grid–making sure critical information gets where it needs to go, even when systems are under stress or attack.

Retirement Plans Could Be Sharing Your Personal Data. Are You at Risk?

The attack came close to blacking out approximately 500,000 people, according to ESET Research. The American Society of Civil Engineers rates U.S. energy infrastructure at D+, with 70% of power transformers and transmission lines over 25 years old. Physical attacks on grid infrastructure more than doubled – the Western Interconnection logged 220 physical security incidents in 2024 versus 107 in 2023 (DOE OE-417 data). Cyberattacks on utilities increased 70% in 2024, averaging over 1,300 weekly incidents by Q3 according to Check Point Research. The blog format allows GAO to provide a little more context about its work than it can offer on its other social media platforms. GAO launched its WatchBlog in January, 2014, as part of its continuing effort to reach its audiences—Congress and the American people—where they are currently looking for information.