A Department of Energy network breach earlier this year that allowed hackers to download sensitive personal information for 104,000 people was the result of a decade-old patchwork of systems, some that hadn't installed critical security updates in years, according to a federal watchdog.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has unveiled an initiative that seeks to further protect the power grid from cyber attacks.
The Electric Sector Cybersecurity Risk Management Maturity project, a federal program to find and contain gaps in the cyber security defenses protecting the nation's electric grid, will be headed by the Department of Energy (DOE), with assistance from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the private sector. The program originated from a proposal from the White House.
