Navigating Evolving NERC CIP Reliability Standards and Overcoming Culture Clash in OT Environments

Sonal Patel is a national award–winning journalist, who has covered a wide range of technology, business, and policy issues for POWER since 2008. Along with keeping her eye on international matters for the magazine’s monthly Global Monitor section, she contributes in-depth analysis and spot news pieces for POWER and its other media channels. Sonal also surveys, crunches, and visualizes power sector data and trends for inclusion in web and print infographics. She is a graduate of the University of Houston.

James currently serves as the Southern Company Executive in Residence at Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security. In this role Goosby works closely with industry, academia, and federal partners, including national laboratories on electric grid cyber security strategies.

With more than 28 years of service at Southern Company, James co-led an initiative to implement an enhanced Operations cyber and NERC-CIP program support model and has held various operational and engineering support leadership positions. Prior to joining Southern Company, James served in the U.S. Marines. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Auburn University.

James also served as a senior fellow at Auburn University’s McCrary Institute, a prestigious group of nationally renowned cyber and critical-infrastructure security experts.

Barry Kuehnle is an Energy Infrastructure and Cyber Security Advisor Senior Leader for the Office of Electric Reliability (OER) in the Division of Cyber Security (DCS) at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). After graduating from Case Western Reserve with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering, Barry started his cybersecurity career in the United Sates Navy as an Intelligence Officer where he worked on specialized information warfare programs. Barry continues to focus on cybersecurity, specializing in industrial control system security and has done so since the mid 1990's. He has responded to numerous cyber events throughout his career and led countless projects to enhance cybersecurity and promote awareness. Since arriving at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2010, Barry specializes in cybersecurity for the Bulk Electric System of the United States.

Jonathan Tubb is a cyber security professional with extensive expertise and experience developing solutions to power generations biggest security challenges. He specializes in identifying, mitigating, and remediating threats in critical infrastructure environments. Jonathan holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Ohio State University and maintains a Professional Engineer (P.E.) license in Computer Engineering. He brings over 15 years of hands-on experience to his current role, as Director of Industrial Cyber and Digital Security at Siemens Energy, Inc. He currently teaches an Operational Technology Cyber Security masters course at Duke University’s Pratt school of Engineering. Outside the professional setting he is an avid brewer.