Hacks on Gas: Energy, Cybersecurity, and U.S. Defense

Abstract

Cybersecurity as it pertains to energy is a topic of increasing interest in both the U.S. government and private sector. Cyber incidents have impacted energy targets, as demonstrated by the Stuxnet and Shamoon cyber attacks. This paper, prepared for the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute, considers cyber issues relevant to the Army and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), including the electrical grid, oil and gas security, and the military’s fuels supply chain. The DoD is incredibly reliant on private sources of energy, and the level of preparedness for cyber attack among those sources likely varies greatly. The author provides characterizations of these problems, as well as a set of policy prescriptions.