Energy Department seeks to advance energy cybersecurity with $45M investment

The U.S. Department of Energy has introduced a new $45 million cybersecurity research grant aimed at strengthening the energy industry against increasingly prevalent and sophisticated cybersecurity threats, CyberScoop reports. Funding will be provided by the Energy Department's Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response for 16 research projects, including an "artificial intelligence and data processing capability" enabling improved threat detection and response for electric vehicle charging stations, smart thermostats, and other grid edge devices; an automated energy resource vulnerability discovery and mitigation framework; and quantum cryptography-resistant zero-trust authentication. "With today's announcement, the Biden-Harris administration is helping teams across the country develop innovative next-generation cybersecurity solutions for tackling modern-day challenges," said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. Such a development comes a month after the Energy Department unveiled a a $70 million grant for research on improving the energy sector's defenses against cyber and physical risks, as well as a $30 million investment toward the development of cybersecurity tools for the clean energy infrastructure.