Midwest Reliability Organization’s (MRO) Security Advisory Council Threat Forum (SACTF) facilitates the sharing of cyber, physical, and operational security threats to the regional bulk power system (BPS). Security professionals from registered entities and other electric power infrastructure owner-operators of all sizes and functions within the MRO region gather weekly in a closed forum to share important information about critical security risks and vulnerabilities.

Leading the SACTF are five industry security professionals employed by MRO member companies who volunteer their time to direct the call and relevant discussions. Each member of the SACTF serves a three-year term.

To further its mission of information sharing, the SACTF hosts a weekly threat call and will stand up additional forums as necessary if the need arises. Registration for the weekly threat call is required and attendees must meet the requirements outlined in the SACTF Charter and the SACTF Guidelines. Please complete this brief survey if you would like to participate.

The SACTF members review and approve all new registrations to maintain the threat call as a trusted forum. To this same end, no MRO staff with compliance and/or enforcement responsibilities are permitted to participate, and no information from the call is shared with compliance or enforcement staff. The same is true of representatives from the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC); representatives from the E-ISAC regularly attend the call, but do not have compliance or enforcement roles and do not share information from the call with NERC compliance or enforcement personnel.

Advantages of SAC Threat Forum Participation

Participants regularly discuss existing and emerging security issues and concerns that all industry personnel should be aware of. Links to relevant sources such as news stories, government agency bulletins, and security blogs are shared and tracked. A summary of the threats and sources shared on the call is provided to all registered participants following each call.

The SACTF is a subgroup of MRO’s Security Advisory Council, which works with the MRO Board of Directors and staff to promote awareness of security issues that affect, or have the potential to affect, the BPS. The SAC holds a variety of educational events throughout the year, which can be found on MRO’s website.

– Margaret Eastman, MRO Security Administrator, and Lee Felter, MRO Principal Security Engineer