The Office of Cybersecurity and Risk Management is focused on developing policy as well as supporting and prioritizing ongoing efforts of Illinois utilities to protect critical infrastructure and prevent unauthorized access to data. This Office will continue to drive and promote utilities’ active, evolving cybersecurity defense programs that implement industry standards and best practices as foundational elements of their strategic efforts to address and manage existing and evolving risks while preventing or limiting any resulting service disruptions.
Working closely with Illinois utilities, this Office will push for awareness, adoption, and optimization of strategic tools and resources in support of the optimized prevention of disruptive cyber-based attacks. Key elements of such strategies and tools include continuous threat and situational awareness, evolving best practice adoption, data and system securitization, standards integration, supply chain management, and response readiness practices.
As utilization of intelligent, remotely accessible controls (promising optimized operational efficiencies) increase, cyber-based threat vectors also increase. In the face of such challenges, and the expanding capabilities and fluid nature of cyber based threats, a continuous commitment toward preventing unauthorized access to strategic assets, private information and operational control systems is a critical component of cybersecurity and risk management efforts by utilities.
Through gaining and driving heightened awareness of existing risks, promoting further knowledge sharing, industry cooperation and active communication as well as regular participation in productive situational exercises (that test company and employee response capabilities) this Office will continue to assess, challenge and push utilities forward while supporting their ongoing efforts to protect critical infrastructure in Illinois.