"
COLLABORATION NOT ONLY IS VITAL, BUT
WE PLACE THE HIGHEST VALUE ON OUR
DISCIPLINED RELATIONSHIPS WITH FEDERAL,
STATE, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT PARTNERS.
government, but our experience not only
is positive, it is vital to the security of
our operations. It also is complex. Take
law enforcement: 18 states, [and] local
law enforcement within each of these.
At the federal level, add DOE, Justice
Department, FBI, and obvious national
security agencies. It seems daunting, but it
works, and we highly value the critical and
efficient collaboration we receive from our
federal and state government partners.
WHAT IS THE EXTENT TO WHICH
DOMINION USES COMMERCIAL OR
PUBLIC CLOUD SERVICES, AND
HOW DOES THAT INTERSECT YOUR
ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES?
We operate on a hybrid cloud, which gives us
greater flexibility depending on application
use and security risk. In today’s world, it
simply isn’t practical for any large business to
maintain a private cloud for all operations.
REGARDLESS OF TECHNOLOGY
OR TRAINING, INSIDER THREATS
OFTEN PRESENT THE MOST
CHALLENGING VARIABLE IN
CYBERSECURITY. HOW DOES
DOMINION ADDRESS THIS?
That’s a big one. Since joining Dominion last
year, we added an Inside Threat Program,
which is important for many reasons. One
being the service we provide to sensitive
DoD and other federal facilities. We are
also trying to use this as a jumping off point
by establishing a corporate insider threat
program that will safeguard the company.
I have great confidence in the disciplined
cybersecurity platform we maintain and
continually evolve, but if one variable “keeps
me up at night,” it is the mandated connections
"
to our grid we incorporate via alternative
energy sources, be these wind, solar, or others.
We don’t control those environments—
therein lies my concern. We all recognize
that regardless of how tight your security,
there is no perfect environment, and
vulnerabilities, to some degree, always exist.
We do standard cybersecurity training—
phishing simulations and training for
leaders across the organization on how
to have more informed discussions with
their work units. We want to build a
culture of protection in our leadership that
will trickle down into the workforce.
We’re actually positioned to manage the
network relatively well, since we’re not
public facing and we’re purely domestic.
HOW DO ADVANCED
TECHNOLOGIES—AI AND
5G IN PARTICULAR—
FACTOR INTO DOMINION’S
SECURITY FRAMEWORK?
My hope is that American companies
are vigorously engaged in pursuing 5G
technology. We need to lead so we don’t
have to rely on other sources that might
not have our best interests at heart. In
machine learning, we’re already there. One
example is our use of automated tools to
assess threats on the outer perimeter of our
network, which, as I said, is so essential
to Dominion’s security framework.
Adam Lee is participating in CES
Government on the “Cyber 2020
Global Threat Matrix” Executive
Roundtable and the January 10th plenary
keynote panel on “Cyber Security and
Critical Infrastructure: Energy.”
MEET ADAM LEE
As Dominion Energy's first Chief
Security Officer, Adam Lee
is responsible for all physical
and cyber security across
Dominion’s national footprint.
He directs development and
implementation of all policies
and procedures that protect
both physical and cyber assets.
He is point for interaction with
government and all levels of law
enforcement, and he is charged
with privacy governance and
compliance with all security
regulations, laws and evolving
protocols. He brings to his
position more than 20 years
senior executive experience
with the FBI, most recently as
Special Agent in Charge for the
Richmond, Virginia office.