September 12, 2020 – Eaton reports it was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) to further research initiatives that will provide utilities with the intelligence needed to accurately detect, respond and recover from a cyberattack.

Eaton is partnering with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, U.S.) on the project.

Current utility systems do not distinguish between electrical faults and disruption caused by a cyberattack, says Eaton. To that end, NREL and Eaton will collaborate to test, prototype and commercialize new technology that will help utilities identify the source of an intrusion, obtain the intelligence needed for recovery, and gain insight into potential network vulnerabilities.

Under the DoE grant, Eaton will address the security gap at the edge-level of the power system through threat detection and real-time warning of potential conditions threatening grid stability and business integrity.

“Companies need trusted tools to improve the cyber resilience of their critical infrastructure,” said Michael Regelski, Eaton.