Cybersecurity and Data Privacy in Energy Law

Deadline to Register:  Thursday, February 27, 2014

Have you ever wanted to learn about energy cybersecurity and data privacy?  Now is your chance because these emerging energy law issues are ripe for a CLE.  Energy laws and regulations are evolving to address cybersecurity and data privacy.  States, including Minnesota, are not immune from these changes.  Recently adopted federal Critical Infrastructure Protection regulatory requirements address new cybersecurity controls and extend the scope of systems protected by the requirements.  Cybersecurity is at the forefront of the Obama administration and Congress.  The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission recently expanded one utility’s privacy tariff docket to a statewide discussion.

Presentations addressing cybersecurity and data privacy issues, followed by a panel discussion and an opportunity for questions, will be given by three established experts:  consultant Rebecca Herold; University of Minnesota Professor Massoud Amin; and Miles Keogh, Director of Grants and Research with National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC).

Following the CLE program, the Public Utilities Law Section will host a reception with drinks and appetizers.

Speakers:
Rebecca Herold is an information privacy, security, and compliance consultant in addition to author and instructor who has provided assistance, advice, services, tools and products to organizations in a wide range of industries during the past two decades. In 2009, Rebecca was asked to lead the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Smart Grid privacy subgroup, where she led the Privacy Impact Assessment for the home to utility activity.  She assists organizations of all sizes and industries throughout the world with information privacy, security and regulatory compliance programs, content development, and strategy development and implementation through a variety of tools and services.  Rebecca is currently participating in the NIST standards committee to help create information security and privacy standards and practices for the U.S. Smart Grid. Rebecca is also an Adjunct Professor for the Norwich University Master of Science in Information Assurance program.  She is frequently interviewed and quoted in diverse publications such as Wired, Popular Science, Information Security, and Consumer Financial Services Law Report.

Professor Massoud Amin is a University Distinguished Teaching Professor and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Minnesota.  He holds the Honeywell/H.W. Sweatt Chair in Technological Leadership and directs the Technological Leadership Institute at the University of Minnesota.  Dr. Amin’s research focuses on resilience, agility, security, and efficiency of complex dynamic systems, including national critical infrastructures for interdependent energy.  Before joining the university in 2003, he held positions of increasing responsibility at the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto.  Currently, Dr. Amin serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Texas Reliability Entity and is on the Board of Directors and chair of the hearing committee of the Midwest Reliability Organization. He is also the Chair of the Smart Grid initiative in the Power and Energy Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), founding chairman of the IEEE smart grid newsletter, and the IEEE Control Systems Technical Committee on Smart Grids.  Previously, Dr. Amin served as chairman of power and energy for ASME’s Critical Asset Protection Initiative, founding member of the IEEE Computer Society’s Task Force on Security and Privacy, served on the Board of the Center for Security Technologies at Washington University, and served as a member of the Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment at the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.  He is the author of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and the editor of seven collections of manuscripts, and serves on the editorial boards of six academic journals. 

Miles Keogh oversees and directs all aspects of NARUC's domestic grant activities. Miles serves as a liaison between NARUC members, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other key organizations with respect to NARUC's Energy and Environmental Programs and security programs. Miles also supports the Energy Resources and Environment and the Committee on Critical Infrastructure.  Miles has written on topics of public utility commissioner interest including cybersecurity, compliance with clean air regulations, solar energy, feed-in tariffs, carbon capture and storage, energy efficiency policies, infrastructure protection, and disaster response.  He also provides training and facilitation services to commissioners and commission staff on important issues in the regulated utility sector.  Miles serves on the North American Electric Reliability Commission (NERC) Severe Impact Resiliency Task Force, the White House Smart Grid Task Force, the Critical Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council for Energy, the Advisory Board of the Electric Infrastructure Security Council, and the Executive Committee of the National Council on Electricity Policy.   Miles received his bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Georgetown University and his master’s in Environmental Management from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.