Texas Cybersecurity Outreach Program

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What is the Cybersecurity Outreach Program?

The Cybersecurity Outreach Program is a voluntary initiative designed to help Texas utilities identify, assess, and strengthen their cybersecurity and physical security posture. Led by Paragon Systems as the state’s independent Cyber Monitor, the program fosters collaboration between utilities and the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT).

Program Components

SECURITY MEETINGS

Quarterly sessions between our cybersecurity monitors and utilities to provide opportunities to share best practices, discuss threats, vulnerabilities, and hot topics.

EXERCISES

Incident response (IR) training opportunities structured to simulate realistic scenarios that focus on a utility’s capability to detect, identify, protect, respond, and recover from an attack.

SELF ASSESSMENTS

Confidential comprehensive surveys comprised of several cybersecurity domains, designed to evaluate a utility’s cyber and physical security efforts

CONFERENCES

Conferences with keynote speakers from the public and private sector, best practice lectures, in-person tabletop exercises, and networking opportunities.

Real-world attacks on critical infrastructure demonstrate the growing threat landscape utilities face:
  • Pennsylvania Water Facility Hacked (2023) – Attackers targeted a booster pump station, inserted malicious code, and gained control over the system. The water facility went into manual mode to prevent any disruptions to the water supply.
  • Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack (2021) – A ransomware group disrupted fuel supply across the East Coast, highlighting critical infrastructure vulnerabilities and the need for stronger cybersecurity protocols.
  • U.S. Power Grid Attacks (2020) – A series of cyberattacks targeted the U.S. electric grid, with the aim of causing widespread power outages.
By joining the Cybersecurity Outreach Program, you’ll gain access to expert guidance, best practices, and tools to stay ahead of emerging threats.

How the Program Helps

Participating utilities receive:
  • Cybersecurity Self-Assessments – Evaluate your security posture utilitizing established industry frameworks – C2M2, CIP, CSF, and CMMC
  • Quarterly Security Meetings – Engage with industry experts and peers to discuss emerging threats and best practices
  • Training & Tabletop Exercises – Strengthen incident response capabilities through real-world attack simulations
  • Maturity Improvement Reports – Get actionable recommendations and free resources to improve security resilience
  • Biennial Cybersecurity Summits – Gain valuable insight from keynote speakers and participate in Red Team-Blue Team exercises to test and enhance your defensive posture

Program Feedback

"Being a program member has helped us learn more about real world attacks and how to defend against them, as well as better understand government agencies and their overlapping roles.”
General Program Feedback
General Program FeedbackProgram Member
"The self assessment was useful and easy to understand. The report we received based on it improved my understanding of best practices and available resources”
Internal Benchmarking Feedback
Internal Benchmarking FeedbackProgram Member
"The tabletop's objectives and scenarios were realistic and applicable to what we do. It's certainly an important item to practice regularly.”
Tabletop Feedback
Tabletop FeedbackProgram Member

Download the Complete Program Guide

COLLABORATE - PROTECT - STRENGTHEN

2024 Topics & Speakers
  • GridEx In A Box: Exercise Deployment with Manageable Resources (E-ISAC)
  • Procurement Best Practices & Navigating Cooperative Purchasing Challenges (Signature Advisory Partners)
  • BCSI Cloud – Best Practices (Austin Energy)
  • Global Security Risks in Cyber and Physical Security (SCIS/Paragon)
  • Navigating ERCOT Market Ruling NPRR 1199
  • Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities & Threat (Austin Energy)
2023 Topics & Speakers
  • Managed Detection and Response (Texas A&M Security Operations Center)
  • Emerging Social Media, Opportunities for Threat Intelligence (LifeRaft)
  • Leveraging DIR Resources (Texas Department of Information Resources)
  • Cyber Threat Intelligence (Joe Slowick, Paralus)
  • Social Engineering Awareness (Texas-New Mexico Power)
  • Creating and Negotiating Service Level Agreements (Elizabeth Rogers, Michael Best LLP)
  • CyberStrike Lights Out Training
  • Artificial Intelligence – Usage, Risks, and Safeguards (Oncor)
  • Cybersecurity Insurance – Best Practices (Michael Best LLP)
  • Workforce Development – Best Practices in the Muni Space (Bryan Texas Utilities)
Tabletop Exercises
  • As part of the October 2022 1st Biennial Cybersecurity Summit, 50+ participants, Facilitators led the exercise by presenting a progressively unfolding cyber incident scenario consisting of a phishing and ransomware attack that included a compromise of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems and exfiltration of Personally Identifying Information (PII). After each scenario update, the facilitators asked questions designed to foster discussion and collaboration among the participants. At the end of the exercise, a wrap up discussion was held to discuss lessons learned and key takeaways.
  • In May and June of 2022, a Virtual Tabletop Exercises was hosted by NUARI on their DECIDE platform which was previously used by the U.S. Army Cyber Institute on the Jack Voltaic Cyber Research Project.
    • The exercise focused on general cybersecurity Incident Response training and as an outreach vehicle to the electric utility sector operating in the State of Texas. The exercise helps utilities understand and identify the role that the Public Utility Commission of Texas plays and its ability to facilitate assistance, training, and gap analysis
    • The exercise focused on Planning, Cybersecurity, Access Control and Identity Verification, Operational Coordination, Operational Communication, Intelligence and Information Sharing, Public Information Warning
Red Team-Blue Team Exercises

As part of the October 2024 2nd Biennial Cybersecurity Summit, a Red Team-Blue Team exercise was executed.

  • Red Team players were given access to their own Virtual Machine where they identified, analyzed, and hacked into as many systems as possible.
  • Blue Team players were tasked with determining how the systems were compromised, where the attacks came from, and what sensitive or proprietary information was taken. Participants also removed malware, backdoors, and persistence mechanisms left by the intruders.
Incident Response Simulation

During the 2024 Cybersecurity Summit, non-technical participants engaged in a Community Cybersecurity Preparedness Simulation course (MTG-301).

  • Developed by National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium, the course utilizes a gamified approach to augmenting Incidence Response where participants strategize with a diverse group of stakeholders to plan for and respond to a cybersecurity incident that could have cascading effects across a community.
  • The course is designed to assist leaders and managers with cybersecurity preparedness.

Assessments that have been utilized by the program to-date:

  • Incident Management and Response Survey – Both questions and best-practice recommendations pertaining to Incident Response and Planning
  • The Cyber Insurance Survey – Questions utilities about their cyber insurance opinions on policy coverages, claims reimbursement, and cybersecurity breach concerns that warrant the purchase of insurance coverage
  • Personnel Resources Survey – Helps to better understand cybersecurity workforce development challenges such as prioritizing tasks and determining how to provide additional training for workforces that are limited in number.
  • Asset and Risk Management Survey – Focuses particularly on utilities’ ability to monitor IT and OT equipment as well as managing their supply chain

 

2024’s summit included industry expert speakers from E-ISAC, DOE CESER, Electric Security Grid Alliance, and keynote speakers Lucian Niemeyer and CMSgt Kenneth Bruce, Jr.  View the complete agenda here.