DOE declares funding of $45 million for cybersecurity research

The Department of Energy has allocated $45 million for cybersecurity research in the energy sector, including projects on artificial intelligence detection for the grid.

On Monday, the Department of Energy revealed plans to invest $45 million in cybersecurity research for the energy industry. The initiatives would focus on quantum communication for the grid and artificial intelligence detection and response.

The Department of Energy's Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) will provide funding for sixteen projects involving six state-based organizations. The projects include six themes and are primarily focused on lowering cyber risks and enhancing the resilience of the natural gas, oil, and electricity industries.

The investments follow warnings from the country's senior security officials on Volt Typhoon, a hacking group associated with China that has attacked vital infrastructure in ways that indicate a malicious or disruptive intent.

One of the funded initiatives is an "artificial intelligence and data processing capability" that can identify and react to breaches for customer-owned controls, such as electric vehicle charging stations and smart thermostats, or "grid edge devices." A framework for automating vulnerability evaluations, discoveries, and mitigations in distributed energy resources is another AI-focused project.

DOE is also working on building quantum-resistant zero-trust authentication in an effort to foresee the impending post-quantum cryptography problem. Another initiative aims to create the capacity to securely communicate with time-sensitive applications, such as automation, remote management, and grid data processing, via quantum communication.