“Coming under attack from IP addresses all over Russia and Europe with hackers trying to access our server was a real wake-up call for us. With the help of iSign, we stopped all these attacks and are now confident our system is fully protected from hackers. Knowing that hackers had invaded our email server gives me serious concerns that they may have done the same to utilities across the country and may be much closer to attacking the power grid than anyone thought possible.
My experience with iSign tells me their system can quickly and easily identify these hackers, block them from stealing our data and stop future attacks. We will be using the iSign system and will help in introducing it to other electric cooperatives/ utilities to protect the American Power Grid. America’s electric coops and hopefully all utilities will make every effort possible to protect the electric power grid and utility systems so uninterrupted services can continue for our members. ”
RICK CONDREN
IT MANAGER AT SWEC
Southwest Electric Cooperative (SWEC)
Project: Protecting America’s Power Grid from Data Breaches
The Challenge: Reports on the potential of cyberattacks on the United States power grid have made the news in recent months. Lloyd’s of London has estimated the impact on the United States economy to be as much as $1 trillion. Southwest Electric Cooperative (SWEC) chose to participate in a pilot program with digital security experts iSign International. SWEC’s goal was to find the best immediate solution in addressing existing cyberattacks on their email servers and to also realize a precautionary solution for possible electrical grid attacks in the future.
The Solution: iSign’s iSecure Protector was installed on the email server to analyze network packets. This analysis found that the network had been hacked dozens of times from unauthorized IP addresses from around the world. All attacks were stopped immediately. iSecure Protector was then tested on the entire server network to protect regional electrical grids and recommended to all utility systems throughout the U.S.