PRESS RELEASE
Auburn, Ala. – Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security has received a $10 million grant from the Department of Energy in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to create a regional research pilot center and cybersecurity operations to protect the power grid from cyber attacks.
The total value of the project is $12.5 million, with an additional $2.5 million coming from Auburn University and other strategic partners.
The center, officially called the Southeast Region Cybersecurity Collaboration Center (SERC3), will bring together experts from the private sector, academia and government to share information and generate innovative real-world solutions to protect the national power grid and other sectors key. It will include a mock utility command center to train cyber defense participants in real time.
“Auburn University is proud to be at the forefront of this important field as we work against one of the greatest threats facing the country and the business sector in the future,” said Steve Taylor, senior vice president for research and Auburn University Economic Development. “The center will conduct critical research and provide real operational solutions to protect us all as we face these challenges. We are grateful to Oak Ridge National Laboratory for partnering with us and to Representative Mike Rogers for supporting him in securing funding for this critical program.”
The center will run experiments with industry partners in a research laboratory environment to support the integration of new and existing security software and hardware into operational environments. Research laboratories will be established at Auburn University, at the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, and at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
“We are excited to work with Auburn on this important national mission,” said Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Stephen Streiffer. “We are combining our capabilities to collaborate with industry, develop new safety technologies and transfer those technologies to industry, all while developing the workforce that will operate these advanced systems.”
Workforce and skills development will be a key role for Auburn in this partnership.
“This project offers an exciting opportunity for our college and our students,” said Mario Eden, dean of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. “Our students will get hands-on experience in a real-world environment. We have a proven track record of innovation, and this project aligns perfectly with our mission to provide the best student-centered engineering experience in America and expand our engineering knowledge through research.”
With a focus on critical infrastructure, the research will help utilities across the nation become more resilient to the growing threat of cyberattacks.
“We know that adversaries want the ability to destroy our energy infrastructure, which could be devastating to our communities,” said Moe Khaleel, associate director of the National Security Sciences Laboratory at ORNL. “SERC3 will focus on building regional partnerships and developing science-based solutions to mitigate these threats – and keep the lights on for everyone.”
Puesh M. Kumar, director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response (CESER), praised the collaboration between the organizations.
“I applaud the collaborative effort of Auburn University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to advance network cybersecurity,” said Kumar. “Everyone must come together – industry, national labs, academia, as well as state and federal governments – if we are to succeed against the growing cyber threats facing the U.S. energy sector from malicious actors and nation-states like the People’s Republic of China. This partnership is a fundamental example of this.”
Frank Cilluffo, director of the McCrary Institute, said the project is at the heart of what the institute does.
“A secure and resilient grid is a national and regional imperative,” Cilluffo said. “Led by James Goosby of McCrary and Tricia Schulz of Oak Ridge, we will create new research to quickly identify, share and mitigate cybersecurity risks while training the future workforce we need to keep us safe.”
Web source: https://www.eng.auburn.edu/news/2024/04/mccrary-serc3.html
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