Over the past few years, cyber threats aimed at a number of critical infrastructure targets have drawn our attention to the security of mission critical networks. These threats have included power grids in Ukraine and Ireland, U.S. energy companies and nuclear power plants, and most recently, at an electric utility on the West Coast where a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack overwhelmed grid network systems with false Web traffic.

This was the first documented digital attack known to have compromised electrical grid operations in the United States due to a moderately basic hack and showed us how the potential for far more significant disruption is a legitimate concern to industry professionals and consumers alike.