DOE program expands live-grid cyber preparedness for U.S. energy sector

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DOE live-grid cyber preparedness

Highlights

Liberty Eclipse, sponsored by DOE's CESER, assembles utilities and agencies for a full-scale cyber resilience exercise using a standalone live power grid.
Participants simulate real-time ransomware and relay compromise scenarios, generating operational data to assess weaknesses in detection, response, and IT-OT coordination.
Liberty Eclipse complements other CESER initiatives by stress-testing tools and communications over one week, aiming to enhance U.S. grid cybersecurity readiness amid evolving threats.

Live-grid exercise tests response under real conditions

As reported by U.S. Department of Energy, citing the Department of Energy, Liberty Eclipse brings together utilities, federal agencies, National Laboratories and industry specialists for a full-scale resilience exercise centered on a standalone power grid that can be attacked, defended, shut down and restored. Sponsored by DOE's Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, the program gives operational technology and cybersecurity teams a venue to rehearse incident response on real equipment rather than in a tabletop setting.

CESER Director Andrew McClure says the exercise's value comes from its realism and the coordination it requires across public and private participants. White House National Security Council Senior Director for Cyber Alexei Bulazel also says the effort stands apart from conventional drills because it involves real power systems and real operational consequences.

During the exercise, utility teams work through scenarios including ransomware attacks on substations and compromised protective relays while coordinating across control rooms, hunt teams and command structures. Participants are required to make escalation and response decisions in real time, mirroring the uncertainty and pressure they would face during an actual grid incident.

Utilities gain data, procedures and federal ties

Liberty Eclipse is also structured to test the communications side of cyber response, which CESER describes as equally critical during an incident. Teams practice sending information through internal chains of command, working with federal partners and deciding what to elevate and when, helping expose communication gaps before a live crisis occurs.

The exercise generates structured performance data that utilities do not often obtain in day-to-day operations, including where detection tools fall behind, where response playbooks remain effective and where coordination between IT and OT personnel breaks down. That feedback is intended to help participants return with stronger procedures, validated communications protocols and closer working relationships with peer utilities and government agencies.

DOE says Liberty Eclipse also builds on other CESER efforts, including Rural and Municipal Utility Cybersecurity ACTShack, GriDNA and Energy Threat Analysis Center operations, by testing how those tools and processes perform under live conditions. Over one week, the program aims to improve readiness across the U.S. energy sector as threats to power infrastructure continue to change.

Previously, we outlined the main factors behind CTOS Digital downgrade after analysts weighed the earnings impact of its cybersecurity incident.

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