One of the biggest challenges facing public power utilities is moving from overwhelming cybersecurity findings to clear, measurable, leadership-ready decisions. Learn how to translate technical results into priorities for taking action, discuss how to establish effective governance structures, and review steps to adopt a measurable assurance model that positions your organization to proactively tackle cybersecurity challenges.  

Hear perspectives from both a small public power utility and an industry cyber practitioner on field-tested steps that can meaningfully improve your organization’s security posture and resilience. Utilities of all sizes can get ideas and practical guidance for boosting your security, even without large security teams, dedicated OT staff, or enterprise-level budgets to back you up.

A wide range of state and federal government and industry partners play a role in sharing information to help electric utilities prepare for and respond to cyber threats. Panelists will discuss when and how utilities should engage these partners during a cyber event, as well as practical ways to establish trusted relationships and communication channels before an incident occurs, when time and clarity matter most.

Examine important lessons from a cyber incident response and the value of cyber mutual assistance for public power utilities. Get a peek behind the curtain at the response and recovery associated with a ransomware event with actionable insights and resources that can help improve your utility's incident response planning. Learn about the ESCC’s Cyber Mutual Assistance program and how your utility can join this network of utility cyber professionals.

Cloud platforms outpace traditional Active Directory in both scale and complexity. Walk through how Easton Utilities developed a solution to address the resulting visibility and control challenges and improve employee provisioning, which evolved into a governance solution that improves account management, reduces costs, and provides cross-system visibility without deploying a large enterprise Identity and Access Management platform. Review what Easton learned along the way about system architecture, data integration, and governance workflow — and what that could mean for your utility’s identity oversight.

Get a peek into how public power utilities are already using artificial intelligence and how they expect it to augment operations in the near future. Hear where AI has been most helpful in their organizations, what risks remain in its use, and learn about open source AI tools utilities could leverage for cybersecurity.

Over the last decade, there has been a push to establish OT asset visibility. But what if this focus is leading us the wrong way? What exactly are we trying to accomplish and why?

This session will touch on how OT network visibility is necessary but not on its own sufficient for meaningful risk reduction. The session will also include an interactive “choose your own adventure” style scenario where the audience collectively walks through an electric incident response to illustrate key themes.
 

Explore how public power utilities are responding to a challenging insurance market while strengthening financial resilience. This session highlights rising costs, limited coverage, and increased industry complexity driven by infrastructure growth and electrification. Speakers will share practical strategies to improve risk communication with underwriters, address coverage gaps through contract structuring, and apply effective risk transfer approaches. Attendees will leave with actionable insights to reduce exposure, enhance preparedness, and support stronger long-term financial decision making.