Executive Governance Needed to Counter Threats to Nuclear Plants

Posted: April 25th, 2017

By Maria Lovely Umayam

Maria Lovely Umayam is a Research Analyst and Project Manager at the Stimson Center. Her work focuses on innovative ways to promote and incentivize WMD nonproliferation, such as exploring industry's role in upholding nuclear security, as well as examining the intersection between WMD nonproliferation and global trade development. Prior to Stimson, Umayam served as a Program Manager at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, where she implemented nuclear safeguards projects in Southeast Asia and Latin America.

As governments and industries try to understand the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats to civilian nuclear power plants, it is becoming clear that property and information are not the only assets at stake. Public confidence is also at risk.

The steady stream of news about massive hacking of government and corporate systems has stoked public anxiety over how protected we truly are in the face of a cyber adversary. Companies in many sectors of the economy are feeling pressure to showcase that they have done all they can to implement reasonable cybersecurity measures to reduce system vulnerabilities.

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