Politico quoted McGuireWoods partner Bernard McNamee in a March 28, 2022, Morning Energy newsletter item about the risks of Russian cyberattacks on the U.S. energy sector.
The Biden administration has recently been warning that critical U.S. industries are at risk of cyberattacks from Russia, and the energy sector is at the top of that list, Politico reported. The FBI warned industry recently of Russian attempts to scan energy firms in the U.S., and the country has demonstrated the ability to shut off the lights in Ukraine as part of its ongoing invasion.
“My biggest fear is the interdependence of natural gas and the electric grid — particularly in the Northeast where there aren’t multiple pipelines,” said McNamee, a senior adviser with McGuireWoods Consulting and former commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The North American Electric Reliability Corp., overseen by FERC and charged with developing cybersecurity regulations for the grid, “has pointed these issues out about the challenges of limited natural gas access and the dependence of the electric grid on it,” McNamee told Politico.