Department of Energy to spend $20M on cyber security

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) looks to step up its security efforts by spending $20 million on more advanced cyber security tools to reduce its attack surface and protect the nation's energy supply, according to a release by the department. Applications are currently being accepted for the funding opportunity to “conduct research, development and demonstrations leading to next generation tools and technologies.” According to the DOE, the technologies developed under this program should not interfere with the critical energy delivery functions and should be scalable, cost-effective, and interoperable. This announcement comes on the heels of a recent breach which resulted in compromised personally identifiable information of hundreds of DOE employees and contractors.