On Wednesday, APGA answered a request for comment published by the Federal Insurance Office (FIO), which is considering potential federal insurance for catastrophic cyber incidents. APGA is grateful FIO and many other federal government entities are focused on preventing cyber threats and mitigating impacts if an unfortunate event does occur. The hope is that this week’s feedback will be resourceful in this common goal. It will be especially important to inform the FIO’s future work on potential cyber incident insurance, as well as the planned joint assessment between the office and the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Feedback received from stakeholders will ensure any federal response to catastrophic cyber incidents truly protects critical infrastructure in the unfortunate incident a cyber-attack occurs at one of America’s public gas utilities.
APGA’s comments were more general, as FIO is in the early stages of exploring cyber incident insurance. The existing efforts of public natural gas utilities to prevent cyber-attacks were highlighted, as well as APGA’s policy resolution, “Commitment to Security and Reliability.” Also, APGA asked the office to ensure the benefits of being a policyholder outweigh the burden. If a public gas utility decides to use insurance provided by FIO, any strings attached or requirements should be appropriate. Considering many APGA members provide the energy needed for smaller towns and communities across America, their workforce is typically smaller than larger, investor-owned utilities. Public gas utilities are not-for-profit entities, so there is a strong focus on fiscal responsibility. Any burden in being a policyholder should be manageable.
To see a copy of the comments,
click here. With any new developments from the FIO, APGA staff will be engaging the Security Task Group.
For questions on this article, please contact Stuart Saulters of APGA staff by phone at 202-544-1334 or by email at
ssaulters@apga.org.